MPs use V8 to serve electorates – Afenyo-Markin

Alexander Afenyo-Markin says having the perception that politicians enrich themselves is “not really the situation”.

According to the Deputy Majority Leader of Parliament, there is no evidence that former MPs and government appointees after their tenure in office are still living affluent lives, a perception that is formed by the electorates.

“As a Member of Parliament, I won’t speak for NPP or NDC but MPs; the pressure, you do everything. People borrow to provide services for their constituencies. People borrow against their salaries to provide services. People use their End of Service Benefit (ESB) ahead of time to provide social services,” the Effutu MP explained on Joy News’ PM Express monitored by GhanaWeb.

He added, all the support the MPs are giving to their constituencies may not be enough, but they still do it.

“People are paying school fees, people are being trained in vocational institutions, they are giving the little they can to support their constituents. You don’t come into the office and expect that you will have it all rosy; you need to ^ for resources to the expectation of your people and I can say here that the Ghanaian politician [MP] does not get into the office to sleep,” Afenyo-Markin observed.

He indicated that if the MP refuses to get certain things within his constituency done, it results in him losing the next election.

When questioned by the host that the Ghanaian politician gets into the office to feed largely on the people with him driving a Land Cruiser V8, does not feel the potholes on the road and does not spend time in traffic and experience the hardships the ordinary Ghanaian faces, the MP argued, the V8 is not for the MP's personal use but for official use.

Afenyo-Markin explained, the V8 was not bought for the MP as a gift but “the MP uses it for official purpose and even so, it is against your income. If you are a Member of Parliament, on your own, you have your small car, you need to tour your constituency; the strength of your small car cannot. So, it is part of the office. It shouldn’t be seen as he just went into the office, he is now living a life of ease and pump, no!”

“…to serve you, you need certain facilities and if those services are not available, [the MP] cannot serve the people…if you don’t have some of these facilities available, you cannot function effectively,” he stressed.