How MP fell on hard times, died 2 weeks after losing an election - Asunafo South MP recounts

Members of Parliament (MPs) are perceived to be fairly rich by many Ghanaians and in most cases, citizens have questioned the source of their wealth tracing it to corruption.

But former Ashanti Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South, Hon Eric Opoku says the situation is not always as people think.

According to him, most MPs go home poor because they end up investing huge sums of money in their constituencies in an attempt to retain their seats in the next election.

Narrating a story of one of his colleague MPs, who died shortly after losing an election, Hon Eric Opoku asked Ghanaians not to think all is well for them.

“People always complain by saying, MPs are enjoying, MPs drive luxurious cars and all that but immediately you meet them after they lose election, then you get to know things are not well with him, Ghanaians have not thought of that”, he said.

He revealed that, the colleague MP whose name he did not mention died shortly after losing an election because he became poor as a result of the huge monies he sunk into the elections.

“I remember one of my colleagues called me when I was the Ashanti Regional minister at about 10:45am and asked me to position myself well because he wanted to have a conversation with me.

"He said, me Eric, I have seen you giving out your money to people anytime have some, you have to be careful. If I should tell you what I have seen after I left Parliament, it is by the miracle of God should I live for a year.

“So I asked him why and he told me he took a loan for his Primaries but lost in the primaries and after his bank has taken his car which he had not finished paying to offset the debt. As he was speaking, he told me he walks anywhere he goes and said it is difficult for him to feed himself.

"People in his hometown he revealed to me were also teasing him that, he didn’t achieve anything in life when he became an MP and didn’t know what to do with his life. Do you know it was not even up to two weeks after our conversation when he died? Hon Eric Opoku narrated.

Hon Eric Opoku further revealed that, there are several other former MPs who have become poor and are not able to cater for themselves.

“There are several of them. Some of them when meet them today, they don’t even have a car, the walk on foot, some of them can’t afford to buy common battery to fix their cars. Sometimes it takes current members of Parliament to cater for the medical care when they get sick. So it’s not easy,” he revealed.