MARCH 5

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DAILY
Politics
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
HERITAGE MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2018
MPs demand February salary
•Parliament House
MEMBERS OF
Parliament
(MPs) are complaining
bitterly
about the delay
in the release of
their February salary.
According to the MPs, the
delay in the payment of their
salary is putting undue pressure on
them as they head to their constituencies
for the March 6, parade.
“There is a particular trend that
has started over the last couple of
months that is getting most of us
worried and the trend is that when
the month ends we don’t see our
salaries.
“The last month we received
our salaries on the 10th and this
month, today (Friday) is 2nd and
there is no sign of us getting our
salaries and we are worried, every
MP is complaining,” Asuogyaman
MP Ampem Nyarko told Starr
FM’s Parliamentary Correspondent,
Ibrahim Alhassan.
He added: “trust me this is not
about those on the left, every MP
is complaining except some of
them are unable to voice out. It is
a very serious thing that is happening
to us.
“You plan your finances and
you don’t know what to do again.
We are going into our constituencies
for 6th March, a lot of expenditure
ahead of us and nothing
showing in our Bank accounts.”
MP for Buem, Daniel Kwasi
Ashiamah also complained bitterly
stating that the situation is extremely
worrying and would
greatly affect their finances if they
are not paid by the end of the day.
“Today is Friday and I am
going home to meet my constituents
and Tuesday will be 6th
March and I have not been paid, I
have not been paid, that is the
matter…and there is no money in
my pocket.”
Mahama Ayariga writes to Attorney-General
• Continued from page 11
and equity to all citizens in the
process of accessing the loans and
other facilities therein.
8. National School Feeding
Programme: This programme,
overseen by the Ministry of Gender,
Children and Social Protection,
has been ongoing for close to
a decade now without appropriate
legislation and proper Regulations
for fairness to all those who wish
to participate. In 2018 an amount
of GH¢ 423,795,450 was appropriated.
9. National Afforestation
Programme: GH¢ 30,000,000.00
has been appropriated for this
programme. We need clarity in
terms of the appropriate Regulatory
framework.
10. Ministry of Inner-City
and Zongo Development: An
appropriation of GH¢
100,000,000.00 was made. A bill
was submitted to Parliament and
has been passed to establish the
Zongo Development Fund. Clear,
fair and accountable Regulations
to ensure equity, fairness and justice
in the disbursement of the
fund have not yet been brought to
Parliament.
11. Free Senior High School:
This laudable initiative, implementing
article 25(1)(b) of our
Constitution, has equally no appropriate
legal and Regulatory
framework governing it, in particular,
the selection of suppliers of
foodstuff and other supplies for
the feeding programme and other
needs of the students. A total of
GH¢ 1,137,861,816.00 was appropriated
for this programme in
2018.
12. GETFund and Scholarship
Secretariat: Please review
the operations of these two education
related entities and you will
find that they all provide some
hundreds of direct students local
and international scholarships
without passing through universities.
No Regulations exist to govern
the choice of beneficiaries to
ensure fairness and justice to all
students. This has been a breeding
ground for cronyism. Proper Regulations
should be enacted for the
award of all Government scholarships.
13. There is also an initiative
called ‘Other Education Requirements’:
An amount of GH¢
300,000,000.00 has been appropriated
for it. Regulatory clarity is
equally needed.
14. We now even have an initiative
called H.E. Nana Akufo-
Addo’s Plan for Agricultural Roads
to which GH¢ 500,000,000.00 has
been appropriated. Quite apart
from the ridiculous branding
which amounts to the appropriation
of state funds to promote an
individual’s image that is repulsive
and offends our sense of public
accountability, clear legislation and
regulation do not exist for communities
to access these funds.
Some of the programmes started
under the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) administration of 2001 to
2009 and were continued by the
National Democratic Congress
(NDC) administration of 2009 to
2016. Those ones, and several new
ones initiated in 2017 by the new
NPP administration, are being
continued under non-existent and
sometimes opaque regulatory
frameworks. All these laudable initiatives
and programmes must be
halted and proper regulations
brought to Parliament to govern
An appropriation of GH¢ 100,000,000.00 was made. A bill
was submitted to Parliament and has been passed to establish
the Zongo Development Fund. Clear, fair and accountable
Regulations to ensure equity, fairness and
justice in the disbursement of the fund have not yet been
brought to Parliament.
their constitutionally proper implementation.
Other on-going initiatives
such as the Youth
Employment Agency’s youth employment
modules and programmes
must be overhauled.
All sole-sourced service provision
arrangements by the Agency
should be reviewed and terminated
and a fair competitive system
should be used to ensure
greater accountability and value
for money. The Agency has a 2018
appropriation of GH¢
201,858,804.00 and projected to
be increased to GH¢
357,036,350.00 in 2021.
If properly utilised, this should
significantly improve the lot of
Ghana’s unemployed youth. Article
41 (f) of our Constitution,
1992 imposes upon each citizen of
Ghana a duty to “protect and preserve
public property and expose
and combat misuse and waste of
public funds and property.”
I write to you as the “principal
legal adviser to the government”,
as spelt out in article 88 of the
Constitution, so that you may
properly advice the Government
to take corrective measures forthwith.
I shall not hesitate to proceed
to the Supreme Court to
compel compliance with especially
articles 296 and 23.
Please accept, Madam Minister,
considerations of my highest regards
and assurances of my availability
to provide any assistance if
you choose the path of compliant
conduct which will require us to
mobilise every intellectual resource
available to fashion out the constitutionally
compliant and appropriate
regulations to govern these
laudable government initiatives.
Sincerely,
Mahama Ayariga (MP) Bawku
Central Constituency
Mahama Ayariga Member of the
Parliament of Ghana Bawku Central
Constituency,
Member of the ECOWAS Parliament-Abuja,
March 1, 2018