Ex-Minister Clears Air ... or did he?

THE MEMBER of Parliament for Techiman North, Professor Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi has explained to newsmen the guidelines governing the disbursement of the MP’s Common Fund.

In this regard a press conference was held at Techiman to set the records straight after a group calling itself ‘The Concern Citizens of Techiman North’ accused the MP of pocketing a component of his MP’s Common Fund called Monitoring and Evaluation.

The group wanted to know what projects the professor was monitoring and evaluating for him to collect the money.

According to Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi, assertions by the group in a recent press release that he had withdrawn an amount of 110 million old Ghana cedis to monitor projects that were yet to be constructed, was baseless.

The MP said people should make it a point to cross check on information before making utterances that could lead to the defamation of someone’s character and hard won reputation.

Hon. Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi explained that the money which was given to all parliamentarians was not necessarily meant for the monitoring and evaluation of projects done by the MP but all projects embarked on by the central government and past MPs for that matter.

He told the newsmen that in view of certain problems encountered by his constituents, he was going to write to the Administrator of Common Fund to allow him use the money to embark on certain development projects such as sanitation in his constituency.

He explained that the amount he took was part of the Common Fund but meant for the monitoring and evaluation of projects and that nobody should harbour the fear that such monies could be used by MPs for their personal projects since it was subject to scrutiny by the Administrator of Common Fund.

The Professor questioned the reason why the Concerned Citizens did not ask where he had funds to carry some developmental projects in areas like Tuobodom and Aworowa when the Common Fund was not ready.

According to him, no serious Member of Parliament would set aside the development of his constituency knowing very well that promises were made during the electioneering campaign and at the end of the four years, MPs would account for their stewardship.

He called on politicians to be circumspect in giving out information to the media adding that the media had a responsibility also to get the other side of the story to present balanced news items.

He was particularly not happy with the Chairman of Finance and Administration sub-committee of the Techiman Municipal Assembly who went on air, castigating him on the issue when he could have contacted him for explanation.

He said politics was not about pinning down one’s opponent but it bordered on development of the community that one might find himself in.

Meanwhile Professor Ameyaw Akumfi has served notice that he will report the behaviour of the F&A chairman to the Complaints Sub-committee of the Techiman Municipal Assembly.