MP Caught Pants Down

...Double Pay And Breach of Constitution

A member of Ghana's august law- making body and Member of Parliament for Awutu-Senya, Mrs. Hanna Tetteh-Kpodar, has fallen foul of the laws of the constitution she has been elected by the sovereign people of Ghana to help protect and which she sworn to defend.

Chronicle on Saturday investigations have revealed that Mrs. Tetteh-Kpodar, at the time of writing this story, still head the personnel department of the Ghana Food Company (GAFCO) and is also in charge of the legal department even though the law required that she should have resigned from GAFCO on winning the Awutu-Senya seat in the 2000 parliamentary elections.

Mrs. Tetteh-Kpodar, a single parent, has also not received clearance from the Office of Parliament to engage in any office of profit, according to our investigations.

Chronicle on Saturday investigations over a two-month period indicated that Hannah is being accorded all the perks of office due a senior management staff.

Checks at the Vehicle Examination and Licensing Department also revealed that the saloon car she currently uses is registered in the name of the Ghana Food Company (GAFCO).

Management, security workers, general staff and factory workers at GAFCO refer to her variously as the Human Resource Manager or "the lawyer".

The Chairman of GAFCO Mr.Hans-Dieter-Baehr, in an interview with a reporter from the Chronicle on Saturday at the company's offices at the Airport residential area had admitted that Mrs. Hanna Tetteh-Kpodar still works with GAFCO and that he is not aware of any documented clearance from Parliament officially permitting the Awutu-Senya MP to engage in any "office of profit" as far as their records show.

He also told the paper that he is not aware that Mrs. Tetteh- Kpodar's continued stay at GAFCO as a staff constituted a breach of the laws of Ghana.

The Office of Parliament confirmed to the Chronicle on Saturday that Mrs. Hannah Tetteh-Kpodar has not been given official permission to engage in any office of profit.

They, however, said the MPs application may be among about forty applications being processed The Office of Parliament also explained that even though MP's could engage in private business, it is unlawful and unconstitutional for an individual to draw salary or allowances from two institutions under the same Consolidated Fund.

Chronicle on Saturday investigations revealed that the Ghana government has 25% shares in GAFCO even though Mrs. Tetteh-Kpodar refused to give that simple information to the paper when interviewed on phone at noon on Wednesday.

She further denied that she officially holds a management position at GAFCO, claiming that she relinquished that position when she was elected to the current Parliament during the December 2000 elections.

Mrs. Tetteh-Kpodar insists that she has been cleared by the Privileges Committee in Parliament and therefore has the right to work for GAFCO as their lawyer.

It appears that the MP has lied. Article 98 of Ghana's Constitution says that a member of Parliament shall not hold any office of profit or emolument, whether private or public and eitherdirectly or indirectly, UNLESS permitted to do so by the Speaker acting on the recommendations of a committee of Parliament on the grounds that-

(a) holding that office will not prejudice the work of a member of Parliament; and no conflict of interest arises or would arise as a result of the member holding that office.

Born in Hungary, the MP, a former student of Wesley Girls (Wey Gey Hey) and University of Ghana, Legon is a force on the floor of Parliament, making very positive parliamentary contributions.

She is the youngest female parliamentarian (age around 35) in the current legislature and won the Awutu-Senya seat on a 'sympathy vote' after the death of his father, a Hungarian-trained medical doctor who lived and practised in Cape Coast and who had been pencilled as candidate for the NDC ticket in the last elections.