Member of Parliament for Asawase in the Ashanti Region, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, has supported anti-government protests in the Greater Accra region, dubbed ‘OccupyJulorbiHouse’.
According to him, politicians are indeed to blame for the woes of the people.
“Looking at the issues that have driven the youth to protest the way that they have, I agree with them. We are stubborn as politicians who have been blessed to be voted into public office,” he said.
The former Minority Chief Whip in Parliament observed that, most politicians in office, including himself, are serving themselves and not the public.
“Today in Ghana, it seems that out of every 10 or 100 of us who have been voted into office, almost 70-80% of us are in it for ourselves. I’m also guilty, 80% of us are in it for ourselves,” said Muntaka when he spoke to Nhyira FM’s Nana Jantuah on Kuro Yi Mu.
The Asawase MP believes politicians are more interested in holding on to power than solving the bread and butter issues confronting Ghanaians.
He said, “When you’re elected into political office, you’re there to do a job, not to keep a job. I don’t know if you know the difference between the two. You are there to do a job, not to keep a job. The development of the country should be first and most important to you. It is not for me to ask myself: ‘What can I do that will ensure I am voted to stay in power?’
“So from what I have told you, is it not obvious that 80% of us are just doing things that will keep us in the house, or what will ensure we hold on to power.
Everything we are doing clearly points out that we are more concerned with keeping power, even if what we do hinders public development, and that is our biggest problem,” said Muntaka.
According to him, politicians in their quest to take pride in helping people, end up finding themselves in corrupt practices.
“We pride ourselves, saying, I have put ten people through police training, I have sent this number to soldier training’. You get asked in some places, ‘Since you became an MP, how many people have you taken to the police service’? And this makes you struggle once in power. Because of this, if you’re not attached to the hip of a politician, a dignitary, or a chief, you will struggle but never be able to access what is rightfully yours as an ordinary Ghanaian. What kind of country are we building?” he quizzed.