A law professor at the University of Ghana Law School has shredded the lame and ridiculous justification of ex-gratia payment to Members of Parliament (MPs) by Alban Sumana Bagbin, the Speaker, that what they receive as ex-gratia is nothing compared with the money they spend to get elected by voters in their constituencies.
Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua questions the logic of how anybody based purely on their own discretion will spend their money to buy votes and then turn around to the government to pay the money back to them.
He also asked how the ex-gratia which is paid to everybody whether they are voted back to parliament or voted down and do not come back can be called by anybody as a retiring benefit.
Prof Appiagyei-Atua explains that if the MPs from the onset know that they are not going to receive any ex-gratia they would be more careful in their election campaign spending – they would be more circumspect in their campaigns because that is where corruption starts.
He added that there is no justification for fat ex-gratia payment to MPs and that it is something the political elites are taking advantage of to milk the country dry.
Mr. Bagbin claims that the MPs have been spending three or four times what they take as ex-gratia on their election campaign.
There is some perception that the ex-gratia is some huge money, but it is not.
According to him the lawmakers do not leave parliament better off than they entered.
Mr. Bagbin said the truth of the matter was that once they are elected to parliament the thinking is that they must win the next election and so they sacrifice everything to satisfy the voters in their constituency so that the voters would give them their votes and return them to parliament.
If at the end of the day, they are voted down, they have lost everything they have invested in the election and they will have nothing. The Speaker said the payment of the ex-gratia is therefore important to help to keep them going.
The payment of ex-gratia to Article 71 officeholders is not something many Ghanaians are happy with considering what public servants after serving in the public service for decades, are paid as monthly SSNIT pension.  Â
Content created and supplied by: KyeretwienanaOseiBonsu (via Opera
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