MP complains about excessive demands from constituents

Takoradi, Nov. 8, GNA - Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the Member of Parliament for Asokwa in the Ashanti Region, on Monday expressed worry over excessive and consistent demands for money from his constituents.

He said some approached him for money to perform their marriage ceremonies, funeral rites, school fees and churches seeking assistance.

Mr Jumah told the GNA in an interview at the second annual parliamentary workshop on Local Government and Decentralization Reforms that monies received as Common Fund were not commensurate with the demands from their constituencies and therefore called for increment. He said he was supporting over 250 students at various levels of education in his constituency with his share of the MP's Common Fund. Mr Jumah said the MP's Common Fund formed only 10 percent of the District Assemblies' Common Fund and therefore could not be used to undertake sufficient development projects.

Mr George Kuntu Blankson, the Member of Parliament for Mfantsean East, said it was not true that MPs misappropriate the MP's Common Fund. He said the MPs did not receive the monies directly from the Common Fund Administrator and that the monies were transferred to district assemblies for disbursement.

Mr Blankson said the MPs submit their proposals to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives for scrutiny and subsequent endorsement before monies could be released to them. 08 Nov 10