Stop paying MPs common fund – IMANI to government

IMANI Africa has lashed out at government for going ahead with its plan to create more districts and constituencies.

Launching a new report on the proliferation of new districts and constituencies in Ghana, the center described government’s plan to create more districts and constituencies as an employment enterprise for politicians.

IMANI is also asking government to discontinue the disbursement of MPs common fund.

According to the Executive director of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, the MPs’ common fund is a waste of money and an excuse of the MP to perpetuate himself/herself in power but not necessarily to do the most important job which is making laws.

“This is a very commonsensical approach, I mean if you don’t have enough money, why dissipate the little that you have. As we speak district assemblies are complaining already that their due is being scrapped and taken off by the government to pursue other social interventions. So it only makes sense not to keep on splurging …..if you already have challenges with even generating as much as you can and you don’t even know what you are actually using it for, you probably don’t want to keep on spreading what i call misery all across.

“What we’re going to do is to keep insisting… we’re going to meet the DCEs and MMDCEs in another meeting and show them exactly why we think that the MPs common fund is a waste of money. It’s actually an excuse of the MP to perpetuate himself/herself in power but not necessarily to do the most important job which is making laws. MPs are not development agents…. they’re development agents to the extent that they’re making sensible laws for us. They shouldn’t be in the gutters digging holes and doing stuff like that, that’s the job of the DCEs “.