You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2013 11 14Article 291928

Opinions of Thursday, 14 November 2013

Columnist: Pobee-Mensah, Tony

Members of Parliament, I am so sorry

I am so sorry that we Ghanaians cannot pay our members of parliament enough that they have to be paupers. For the nerve of us; we don't give them chauffeured limousines to take them around. They have to take loans to buy cars. The nerve indeed; I am sorry.

I remember a very sad event one time in my life. We were all in a line waiting for tro-tro. When the tro-tro arrived, the driver pulled up a little ahead of the line and everyone in line ran to fight for a seat. A young lady in a school uniform ran just as everyone. As she tried to get on the bus, someone accidentally knocked her over and she fell. Her school books scattered. The girl got up and started picking up her books. As she did that, the tro-tro filled up. All I could think of was that this poor girl will get to school late and get punished not getting to school on time.

The nerve of us to expect our members of parliament to do something about this situation; and soon we may have the nerve to put them in the same situation as this little girl. How dare us elect them into parliament and expect them to find their own transportation to their jobs just because just about all the rest of us have to find our own transportation to our jobs.

Just because American news reports recently reported that someone ran into Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush's "War Minister" at a bus stop in Washington DC waiting for a bus and started yelling at him for taking America to war on a false pretence does not mean we should expect our members of parliament to take the bus when they leave office.

How dare us pay our members of parliament meager salary to keep them poor just because there are a whole lot of people making a whole lot less than they are making and even more who can't even find anything that will pay them anything at all; and then we dare expect that it will be their responsibility to make sure there is employment for people to find jobs and work to make money and maybe pay taxes to make money available to pay our members of parliament well enough that they can walk into a car dealership in America and pay for a car in full with a small part of their monthly salary.

How dare us? Members of Parliament, please accept my sincerest apology. We will correct this prompto so that you won't become corrupt. Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, I hope by your next lecture, you will have better news to report.

Tony Pobee-Mensah