Why MPs refused a pay cut to support Ghana’s development plans in 1959

Citizens of any country are usually encouraged to participate in the day-to-day developments of their nations, but even more, the bigger expectation mostly rests on the shoulders of the people in political office. Much as this is the ideal situation, something very interesting happened in the Parliament of Ghana in August 1959. Teased out of a newspaper report by Ghana Times, with the headline, ‘No sacrifice by U.P. M.Ps,’ the story captured the reasons behind the refusal of Members of Parliament of the opposition party at the time, United Party, to take a pay cut. The pay cut was intended to support the government of Kwame Nkrumah’s of the successful implementation of the Second Development Plan. “Member of the Ghana Parliamentary Opposition yesterday demonstrated in the National Assembly that they were not prepared to sacrifice a penny of their allowance to the nation towards the successful implementation of the Second Development Plan. “This happened during a debate on a motion moved by Mr. K. A. Gbedemah, Minister of Finance, asking both sides of the House to approve the Development Fund (Members Contributions) B111 which sought to cut the salaries of the Speaker, Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and the allowance of Members of Parliament. “There was uproar in the House on several occasions, and the Speaker, Mr. A. M. Akiwumi, had to call members to order,” the Saturday, August 1, 1959, report stated. Explaining their reasons for rejecting the progressive motion in the House, the UP MPs claimed that it was something that was being forced on them. The other side of the House – the incumbent MPs, also tried to convince their colleagues but when their attempts failed, they tagged the MPs “enemies of the nation.” “During debate, the opposition claimed that they government was using a means of forcing them to accept a bill which they did not support, while government backbenchers contended that they agreed that ‘as real patriots’ there should be cut in salaries and allowances. “They called members of the opposition names and described them as ‘enemies of the nation,’” it added. The Minister of Finance, K. A. Gbedemah however still tried to argue the decision of his government, making reference to the example of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and his commitment to the course, but that was still not convincing enough. You can read the full report in the photo snippets, exclusive to GhanaWeb, below: Watch the latest episode of The Lowdown below: AE/WA