Murtala Mohammed, Member of Parliament for Tamale Central
Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has stated that lawmakers need more than a car loan to facilitate their obligation to the state and their constituencies, pointing out that legislators in Ghana are the least paid on the continent.
According to the former deputy Minister of Trade, the land cruiser vehicles for Members of Parliament is not a luxury at all but rather a necessity for the smooth running of their various jurisdictions.
He pointed out that the legislature is one of the most important arms of government in any democracy, especially in Ghana’s dispensation thus the legislators must be better resourced to deliver on their mandate and vehicles are one of them.
He said there are directors of state institutions and members of the other arms of government who have multiple vehicles allocated to them in pursuance of their constitutional mandates and MPs should not be an exception.
Mohammed said if these state officials deserve to have multiple vehicles from the state at their disposal then they are not more than members of parliament to be cheated out of this right.
He disclosed that the state has even started deducting the loans for the vehicles from the emolument of MPs even though they have not been given the land cruisers.
He said the position of the parliamentarians has always been that they don’t need a vehicle loan in order to facilitate them deliver on their mandates as members of parliament just like any other arm of government in the country.
Hon. Mohammed made this pronouncement in an interview with Berla Mundi on the New Day show on TV3, Thursday, July 8.
He was reacting on the back of the declaration by the Finance Minister who is about to table a motion before parliament to approve a $28 million loan to secure some 275 land cruiser vehicles for members of parliament in Ghana, which has generated a lot of reaction from the general public.
“We can raise questions about the amount of money that’s been spent on it, maybe if you want to start from per unit how much it’s going to cost but to create the impression that MPs don’t deserve that.
“How is an MP going to do his job, in fact, the salary we take, our drivers’ salaries come from the salary we take, our fuel comes from the salary we take, everything comes from the salaries we take. Maybe we need to juxtapose that with the continent of Africa or segregate it with the sub-region. How much are MPs taking in other African countries? My understanding is that the MPs in Ghana are the least paid,” he charged.