Dr. Bawumia, Ghana’s Vice President, and the NDC both support Digital Ghana. Both parties hold up the terms of democracy, such as transparency and accountability across the political spectrum, under the spotlight of television cameras. Both parties continuously blast anti-corruption mantras into the electorate’s ears.
Critical observers both inside and outside Ghana ponder the following question: When MPs or hopefuls for Parliament donate bikes, motorcycles, oil, sugar, and automobiles to the residents and elites in the villages, where does the money come from? This is done frequently before elections or in the interim to make headlines while others are away.
Personal finances, collected donor contributions, collecting a portion of each MP’s monthly stipend and sharing it with the constituency, sponsorship by their parties, and so on do not explain the large sums of money spent on excellent work.
Citizens in Europe consult their Parliament’s website to see what income and assets each MP has, as well as what activities and previous work each MP has done.
This assists citizens in maintaining and reducing corruption. Extra income from lobbying for firms, consultancy services, and private ownership, among other things, is required of MPs.
If someone wanted to do the same, they would find no such information on the Ghanaian Parliament’s website. This website contains information about Parliament, its numerous committees, and the state budget given to Parliament. Aside from the MPs’ pictures, no information on their earnings or activities in the EU is available.
Because this is a basic but crucial exercise of democracy in which Ghana claims to participate, critical observers extend their thoughts. Why is it that neither the NPP nor the NDC have made the personal income of MPs public and transparent, as is the case in many other nations throughout the world, during their term in Parliament from 1992 to the present? The critical thinker believes that such knowledge would be beneficial to the public but would go against both parties’ lifestyles of shouting foul while they are in power and vice versa.
Even the most ardent party loyalist must admit to himself before falling asleep that both parties hide in the darkness of politics when logos and faces differ but development is nowhere to be seen save in the numbers of citizens willing to leave for greener pastures… Ghana, good night!
Content created and supplied by: Morrisbukay (via Opera
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