Ghanaian Times

Ahwoi on MPs Common Fund

The Ghanaian Times in an inside page story reports that the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, has explained that the MPs Constituency Development Fund is not a political fund meant for supporters of a particular parliamentarian.

The paper says Mr Ahwoi regretted that some MPs were treating the fund as "if it were their personal monies, using it to grant personal loans, awarding private scholarships and lavishing it on entertainment". Mr Ahwoi who was addressing the Ahafo-Ano North District Assembly at Tepa in Ashanti, is reported as explaining that the fund belongs to the district assemblies.

According to the paper, the Minister urged the communities not to put undue pressure on MPs by making excessive demands on them, thereby tempting them to use the fund in otherwise unauthorised manner. "The fund was meant for the Member of Parliament to identify projects within the approved district development plan on which it may be spent", he is quoted as telling the assembly.