Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Hon Eric Opoku, says the public’s perception of MPs as wealthy is incorrect.

He stated that the situation is not as it appears.

According to the lawmaker, some MPs retire broke and without a source of income.

He said this while eulogizing late Kumawu MP Philip Basoah.

He bemoaned the fact that MPs go home impoverished because they end up investing large sums of money in their constituencies to keep their seats in the next election.

Hon Eric Opoku, telling the story of one of his colleague MPs, whom he refused to name, who died shortly after losing an election, urged Ghanaians not to have such perceptions about MPs and put undue pressure on them.

The MP went on to describe how a former MP became ill and was unable to go to the hospital because he did not have any money on him.

He claimed that it took the intervention of some MPs to raise funds to transport the former colleague to the hospital.

Mr. Eric Opoku proposed to the House that a welfare scheme be considered to assist the wives and children of MPs who die in office.

He stated that if you see some of our colleagues out there, you will be concerned.

“When we are in the house, we hear the public say every day, MPs are making money, but when we leave the house, within ten days, everything changes. That is the reality of parliamentary life. What they say of us is exactly the opposite of our situation.”