Second Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament and Member of Parliament(MP) for Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency in the Upper West Region, Alban Bagbin has joined many Ghanaians wishing to see the scraping of Ex-gratia to the President and Vice, MPs and other article 71 Office holders.
Hon. Alban Bagbin is mentioned among the longest serving Members of Parliament in the history of Ghana, and as a result of his long stay, he has taken Ex-gratia six times in his Parliamentary career.
Speaking on Asempa FM on the issue of paying or not paying Ex-gratia to MPs and others, the National Democratic Congress Flag-bearer hopeful, was just straight forward; he want Ex-gratia scraped.
“… from the experience that I have, we could better utilize these resources than doling them out the way we are doing. I will be among the first to go for a cancelation of Ex-gratia.” He assured.
In place of Ex-gratia, Hon. Bagbin want the implementation of the recommendation of the Constitutional Review Committee, that there should be a National Renumeration Council or Committee to look for renumeration of all Public Servants including Political Office holders.
The payment of Ex-gratia has been a burden on successive governments of Ghana and yet, they have refused to scrape it, just because it favours them too, as well as other Article 71 office holders.
It is expected that, in the coming days Hon. Alban Bagbin will be seen as a hypocrite by some self seeking Members of Parliament and will have to explain himself over and over and try to convince his colleague MPs and other Politicians to also see the uselessness of Ex-gratia on Ghana’s development.
For many Ghanaians who have kick against the payment of Ex-gratia, it drains the country so much and think that these monies could have been channelled into building school blocks, clinics, providing potable drinking water and many other amenities that Ghanaians, especially those in rural areas are deprived of.
For his public declaration alone, Hon. Bagbin could win many Ghanaian hearts and gain their respect as a Politician.
Source: a1radioonline.com / 101.1MHz / Ghana
