Sarpong, Justice
President Mills is a fraud and hypocrite who hides behind fake Christian credentials to do bad things and Ghanaians are being flummoxed and adumbrated by this wicked President. Can this President sleep soundly when Teachers are not being paid because of lack of funds but we have $54,000 to give to each Parliamentarian? Folks, the same Parliamentarians are going to receive the same amount or higher in another four years, is that fair when the minimum wage for a government worker in Ghana is less than $70.00 a month?.
Our christian President is aware about this inequality but has no heart to address this anomaly. The NDC government government he is presiding over is supposed to be social democrats who care about the ordinary Joe six pack but that is not so if you extrapolate what they say to what they really do. They lie to Ghanaians that NPP is a party that values property owning but look how their Ministers, and Presidential Aides are grabbing properties left and right and fighting over contracts(Ama Benyiwa Doe vs Allotey Jacobs) These Politicians are using their pens and fancy English to rob poor Ghanaians and it is about time we mount a big demonstration and stop the 'armed robbery" by these Politicians.
It was reported in this forum yesterday, 7/14/2011 that, President Evans Atta Mills has ordered the powers that be to release the ex-grati of Parliamentarians to them.
The ex-gratia to these Parliamentarians is an eye-popping GHc80,000, close to $54,000. Most of these Parliamentarians are still in Parliament drawing about $3,000 a month which they want the government to increase to $8,000 when these MP's live free on government housing, allowance for gas(Petrol), free electricity and water and car loans of $50,000. Now do we understand why some people will even kill their mother's to become Parliamentarians?
It was reported in this forum about three days ago that, some Teachers have not receive their salaries for past twenty four(24)months. Why should it take twenty four months for new Employees to be paid their first salary? One wonders how these Teachers have survived for two years without drawing salaries. Do we understand why corruption is soo rife in our country? The government has no money to pay teachers and contractors and our children are schooling under trees because we do not have money to do these things but we have 18.4 million Ghana cedis or $12.35M, that is 80,000 times 230 MP'S
Read what an excuse the deputy Majority leader used to justify the stealing going on in Ghana.
"However, the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon Rashid Pelpuo says the Manhyia MP got it all wrong.
“This is terribly unfounded and vicious. There is no iota of truth in this very vile accusation. There are members from the opposition NPP who are saying they are broke and need money and there are members from our side also who say they need money.
“So there is pressure from both sides asking us to expedite action on the ex-gratia. So anybody who has gone round to spin it and give it that kind of vicious image is very unacceptable”.
We the Electorates have had it with our prima donna Politicians we are going to embark on a dharna at the castle and Parliament house until these hallucinating Politicians come out of their stupor of power drunkness and realise how they are suffocating Ghanaians to death with their narcisstic demands. Let it sink into the heads of these Parliamentarians that, we will not accept an increase of a penny more to their 2,700 cedis a month salary. If they think they can do better outside Parliament, they should resign and go out out get those jobs paying 7,000 cedis a month, that is their prerogative.
Fellow citizens, whether you are an NDC, NPP, CPP or any other Party supporter, lets calm down now and assess how our Politicians, those in power now and in the opposition are stealing the country to 'bankruptcy without batting an eye doing it.
In this short article geared mainly towards our Parliamentarians corrupt atitude, some people are going to be shocked about how some Parliamentarians are using their positions to rob the country with the backing of the constitution. This article will address three areas of corruption that our constitution has put its stamp of approval to.
1. What is the meaning of end of service benefits? According to our thieving Parliamentarians, end of service benefits which is about $50,000 to each of the 230 Parliamentarians are paid every four years at the end of the general elections. My layman's understanding of end of service benefits is when one retires from his job, but it means a whole different thing to our Parliamentarians.
Some of our Parliamentarians have been in Parliament since 1992 and that means they have collected this end of service benefits four times, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. One such Parliamentarian is Alba Bagbin who is involved in this recent brouhaha about collecting more than what he is entitled to. He is not alone, there are a lot of NPP and NDC members who have collected this booty four, three or two times. My fellow citizens, this is as bad as armed robbery only that these people in suits are doing it by passing laws that allow them to steal legitimately. How many workers receive end of service benefits four or five times in their lives?
2. Almost every Ghanaian living in Ghana, whether working for the government or a private company pays his or her own rent, electricity, water bill and transportation to work and back except our Politicians in the Judiciary, Executive and the legislature branch who are the top earners in our society in terms of salary and benefits and living rent free with electricity and water service with maid and garden boy service provided free of charge and paid by the hardworking hoi polloi who have a hard time making ends meet while our Politicians are still maintaining the colonial mentality of having their bills paid by the poor while they bank their fat checks.
Is it fair to ask a teacher earning about GHc200 a month to pay his own rent, electricity, water bill and transportation cost while a Parliamentarian earning about GHc3,000 a month is living rent free on this poor teachers taxes?
3.What is the meaning of ex-gratia? It is defined as a favor rather than as a matter of right so how can these Parliamentarians use ex-gratia as a collateral to secure $50,000 loans to buy cars? Can the Doctors, Nurses, teachers, civil servants at the Ministeries go to any Bank and access loans by telling the loan officer, I want to use my end of year bonus as a security when one is not guaranteed to receive one? But hold on people, the Parliamentarians have passed laws to make this favor as right and even know the amount they are going to receive.
People, don't get confused, this ex-gratia is not the same as retirement benefits because when these Parliamentarians retire from government service, they are going to receive their retirements. If one was a teacher before becoming a Parliamentarian, he or she will receive his retirement as a former teacher.
I am appealing to my brothers and sisters in Ghana, especially the workers, Professors, teachers, Pysicians, Nurses, Accountants, Engineers and the educated Professionals to educate others about how their representatives are using the law to steal and agitate for changes in the constitution to deny our Politicians these benefits which they do not deserve. Let's make it crystal clear to our Politicians that, we are tired of their stealing and will not take it anymore.
This is a serious issue and should be taken as such so I am providing my email for interested people to contact so that we can start a popular movement to get our Politicians to do the right thing by living on their salaries like any other Ghanaian.
Justice Sarpong
Houston, Texas
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