Groucho Marx once said: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies”.

This quote by Groucho Marx best describes the current situation of Ghana where old men and women have been elected or given the mandate to go into a certain chamber pot to ‘ease’ their thinking caps and make sure the lives of the people who gave them the mandate are better off.

It is very ironic that when it comes to issues such as salaries, car loans, rent allowance, per diem etc, we have our politicians singing from the same hymn sheet; they do not mind even religious differences; once they can read the tonic sol-fas, they are good to go. However, when it comes to things that worry the ordinary man whose taxes these old folks feed on they do not care one bit.

Numerous is the plight of the ordinary citizens of this country but the politicians have turned a deaf ear to it all…even the deaf can hear with gestures but not the people whom we call politicians.

Why will a grown up man who feeds on our taxes wake up one morning after having enjoyed all that life has to offer and try to find trouble where there is none by provide wrong remedies to our solutions?

I have been thinking of this whole issue of a new Chamber ‘pot’ for Ghana’s Parliament but I don’t think there is one wisdom provided by the proponents of such a crass idea.

Yes, I call such an idea very crass because there is no justification by these old ‘kids’ as to why a chamber ‘pot’ should be provided for them to do their diurnal duties.

To quote Will Rogers “Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke”.

I have been nosing around and I came across an infantile justification that when Ghanaians were suffering we still built stadia so it is OK for us to give our stomach upset parliamentarians some chamber pot to ease themselves in…….really?

Upon all the problems of this country building a 450 chamber ‘pot’ is on top of the scale of preference of our stomach upset politicians?

The arrogant Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu in an interview with Accra based Joy FM stated that security of MPs, Speaker’s ability to see, and Parliament getting its own chamber after customizing State House for its works since 1992 are the main reasons why the taxpayer should get them a chamber ‘pot’ to ease themselves in.

Will a class 6 pupil provide such reasons for her justification of getting a new school bag when the old one has no problems, knowing very well that she requested for it to be redesigned into her own preference?

Ghanaians need more security than the politicians who take ex-gratia every four years.

Ghanaians need more visible roads in the night than those who have been given the mandate to serve the ordinary taxpayer.

Ghanaians need ‘manhole’ free roads to drive on daily.

Ghanaians need proper classroom blocks, proper health facilities, constant power supply, a constant flow of water any time taps are turned on, a plastic free environment, and proper conditions of service than the politicians who feed on our taxes.

If the Speaker cannot clearly see those occupying the 275 seats in parliament can he see through 450 seats clearly?

What sin has this country committed in using State House for it works since 1992?

None!

Can’t $200 million do anything better for the country other than building a chamber ‘pot’ which will not be fully occupied by the MPs when they get ‘stomach upsets’?

Just scan through the parliament house and compare that with the House of Commons in the UK where we borrowed our parliamentary system from. One will note that our ‘pot belly’ men here are VERY comfortable within the house where some even end up sleeping even live on TV.

How many times is the house full to capacity?

Ghana’s parliament does not need that Chinese furniture which makes our MPs sleep daily when there is a sitting.

Can we get the parliamentarians some bench for them to sit up and think properly when there is a proper discussion about the country and the future?

Oh did I hear bald KT Hammond saying parliamentarians won’t sit under trees? By his logic, the future leaders of this country deserve to sit under trees and study or be in a life threatening classrooms and study?

What a forlorn statement from a bald MP with a grey hair!

As Franklin Roosevelt said, “A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward”.

Let’s give priority to things that will better the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian who stays in traffic for more than two hours daily when she closes from the office or market and the Ghanaian who stood in the scorching sun to thumbprint that ballot paper for the ‘potbellied’ to occupy that chamber ‘pot’.

I wonder sometimes whether if our beloved country is being run by smart people or it is being run by some imbeciles who don’t care about us.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Blog: ekowrites.blogspot.com