Why most MPs become miserable after losing elections – Outgoing MP

• Posted on December 15, 2020December 15, 2020
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ben Abdallah Banda, has disclosed why some Members of Parliament 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.

Mr. Abdella Banda shared this revelation in an interview on Monday, December 14 while he was speaking on the supposed 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.

The Committee Chairman admitted that Members of Parliament dole out money to people though that, in his estimation, does not constitute bribe to 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”.

Mr. Abdallah explained that for some MPs, four months after losing elections, become miserable because “they borrowed for their campaigns and other things”.

Passage of Laws

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP admitted that the current government and Parliament could not pass most laws even though it is the only government and Parliament that has 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”.

He said “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”.

By Kweku Antwi-Otoo