President Was Aware of $20,000 Loan For MPs - Bagbin

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin has described President Kufuor’s claim of ignorance over the $20,000 car loans allocated to Members of Parliament as unfortunate and a clear indication that there is no team work in the governance of the country. “For the President to claim innocence over this issue is a bad indication about how the country is being run.”

According to Mr Bagbin, discussions for the car loans has been going on for some time now, between the Majority NPP and minority NDC since May, this year and the President, fully aware because letters on the discussions were copied to his office and that of Finance Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo.

Installment payment for each Member of Parliament will then be deducted at source with effect from the end of of September 2001 at a rate of 1.2 million Cedis a month. Mr Bagbin therefore expressed dismay at the President’s outrage over the number of cars allocated to some Ministers of State, vis-?-vis the cars that MPs are currently using for official rounds

“I think that as a country if we want to develop democracy in Ghana, then we should not shy away from the telling the truth by claiming alibi under the “am not aware syndrome”.