The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ben Abdallah Banda, has disclosed why some Members of Parliament (MPs) become miserable after losing power.
The MP for Offinso South said some of his colleagues borrow so much for spending and so when they leave Parliament with nothing in their hands, they end up becoming miserable.
He shared this revelation in an interview on Onua TV on Monday, December 14 while he was speaking on the hung Parliament facing the eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
“We don’t buy votes. We give them T&T and something to buy water. We borrow the money from banks and we pay with interest,” he explained.
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The Committee Chairman admitted that MPs dole out money to people though that, in his estimation, does not constitute bribe to the electorate.
“Of course, some [MPs] are paid GH¢200 a month. I have taken loans before for so many things because you have to look after your constituents, you have to go for primaries,” he said.
He explained that for some MPs, four months after losing elections, they become miserable because “they borrowed for their campaigns and other things.”
Passage of Laws
The New Patriotic Party MP admitted that the current government and Parliament could not pass most laws though they are the only government and Parliament that have passed most laws in the history of Ghana.
“We could not pass most laws and the example is the Right to Information Bill. The laws normally emanate from the Presidency and that gives that committee the speedy mandate to pass the laws quick.
“No government in the history of Ghana has been able to pass 50 laws within a regime but this current government and Parliament has passed more than 100 laws”.