Parliament Denies Waving Of Arrears Of Car Loans For Mp's

The clerk of parliament Rex Owusu Ansah has stated, that only the speaker is entitled to a car as part of his end of service benefits, under the terms of remuneration for members of the house. Speaking to JOY FM on reports that the arrears on car loans advanced to some members of the last parliament had been waived; Mr. Owusu Ansah explained that although the members made representations to the house for a waiver, an agreement was not reached.

A total of 159 members in the second parliament of the forth republic are in arrears of car loans advanced them. Out of a total of about 4.1 billion cedis only 1.1 million cedis has been paid leaving almost 3 billion unpaid. Under the car loan scheme instituted in 1996 each member was given 26 million cedis, but so far each member has paid only 7.2 million cedis per head.

Mr. Owusu Ansah told JOY FM that ideally, the arrears should be deducted from the end of service benefits of each member, as has been the norm. He however, pointed out that the MP's end of service benefits might be insufficient to cover the arrears of over 18 million cedis owed.