MPs' mutual funds must be eradicated – Okudzeto Ablakwa

General News of Sunday, July 28, 2019

Source: GNA

2019-07-28

Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, called for the abolition of the Common Members' Fund, a component of the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) allocated to MPs.

He added that voters recognized the role of MPs as development agents, but that the MPF was desperately needed to undertake a large-scale project. Yet, it has always been thought that these funds could be used to address infrastructure challenges.

As a country, it was time to debate whether MPs should be agents of development or focus on their legislative duties, but it was important to review the architecture of the constitution as a whole and to to opt for a strict separation of powers.

Mr. Ablakwa made these remarks at a roundtable on how voters choose their lawmakers.

The round table organized by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (Ghana-CSD) focused on: "How do voters select legislators? A great experience in Ghana. "

The first results of a joint investigation experiment conducted by Dr. George Kwaku Ofosu, partner of the CDD-Ghana, on how the efforts of politicians to provide constituency services affect citizens' voting choices and whether these effects vary according to the types of voters (gender and partisan) and the level of electoral competition in Ghana, was presented to set the tone for the discussions.

In a recent survey by the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, most potential voters expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of their MPs.

In response, MEPs felt that citizens do not understand the work they do behind the scenes and are not able to evaluate them fairly.

Mr. Ablakwa stressed the need for economic transformation and felt that a low level of economic opportunity prompted constituents to make certain demands.