The people have spoken - 80% Against MPs' loan

The Statesman says in a first-of-its kind public survey conducted by it, 80.4% of the 811 callers who participated said no to the scheme to give MPs a $20,000 loan each to buy a vehicle. Only 133 (19.6%) of members of the public who voted were in support of the loan.

The Weekend Statesman, gauging the public's reaction to the initial news of the $20,000, first, conducted a small straw poll of the streets of Accra and found people united against the loan.

The paper says it then decided that a nationwide telephone survey should be conducted to give a far scientific sample of what Ghanaians generally felt. Callers from as far as Wenchi, Tamale, Aflao and Techiman were asked, "Should your MP receive a $20,000 state-funded loan to buy a car?" 678 gave it a massive thumbs down.

In a related development, The Statesman says its attempt to get the Clerk of Parliament to furnish it with a list of all the MPs of the last two Parliaments who had failed to pay back their loans was futile. Amazingly, Parliament doesn't seem to have available the exact figures of loan defaulters and yet was prepared to grant another set of loans at an even higher rate to its members, states the paper.

The Clerk argued that a different set of Staff dealt with the old loans and, therefore, he was not able to locate the documents showing how much was owed and by whom.