My 3-months MP salary unpaid; government must be careful - Ken Agyapong

Two weeks ago, Members of Parliament from both sides of the House unanimously condemned the unusual delay in the payment of their salaries.

They said the situation is becoming habitual and the silence of government on it is worrying.

While most of them complained about February salary which delayed unduly or was yet to arrive as then, influential NPP Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Honourable Kennedy Agyapong is saying his MP salary for the past three months was yet to be paid by the government, a situation he said the NPP government must be very careful about.

He said as an MP, when he imports anything, he tries as much as possible to pay every single pesewa to the state without cutting corners, but in a situation where government in its part hasn’t paid him for three months as an MP, it becomes a worrying situation- “you can imagine”, he said.

In the Oman FM interview covered by MYNEWSGH.com, the NPP MP said: “When my items come to the port I don’t go there personally. Agents handle it. Customs can confirm. Apart from my rolls Royce I went to stand by it from 2010, ask them if they have seen me there before. The things I bring, they charge me duties and I pay”, he said.

“After paying for duties, government also has not paid me as an MP. NPP must watch out about that part.
I have not been paid as MP for three months now. So if we use our money to pay duties and we are not paid, you can imagine.” He added.

Hon. Ras Mubarak et al speak

It was MP for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak who first raised the issue of salary payment delays on the floor of the Parliamnet. The NDC MP said “we are currently in the new month and MPs have still not received salaries.”

“I want to find out if this is going to be the new norm,” he wanted to know.

He said the NPP MPs prefer to be quiet about the matter because their government is in power. That obviously, excludes The Hon MP for Assin Central Honourable Kennedy Agyapong.

The NDC MP said the MPs were even more worried ahead of last two week’s 6th March Independence Day celebrations when the parliamentarians would have to visit their constituencies.

Constituency visits come with several financial demands on the MPs.

“You plan your finance and you don’t know what to do again… if you don’t pay us, everything is thrown out of gear,” he continued to lament.

The NDC MP expects that if the government is facing challenges paying their “meager” salaries, “courtesy demands” that the Finance Minister comes clean with the MPs.

Another opposition NDC MP, MP for Asuogyaman constituency, Thomas Ampem-Nyarko had told Multimedia’s JoyNews last two weeks that the 275 MPs were yet to be paid their February salaries days into the new month of March.

He said January salaries were paid more than 10 days into February, noting “the trend has been happening”.

He said there is bi-partisan concern over the “unacceptable” salary delays.
“Every MP is complaining…it is a very serious thing that is happening to us,” he lamented after the matter was raised on the floor of the House by Mr Ras Mubarak.