Member of Parliament for Binduri, Issifu Mahmoud, has defended the GHC150,000 budgetary allocation, describing the amount as “woefully inadequate” to meet the diverse needs within their constituencies.
On Saturday, March 29, Parliament approved an amount of GHC250,000 each for Members of Parliament through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) distribution formula.
This allocation is intended to fund education-related projects in the constituencies of MPs. An additional GHC150,000 has been allocated to each Member of Parliament to monitor these projects.
This decision has sparked criticism from various quarters, questioning the necessity and adequacy of the funds.
In an interview with Channel One Newsroom with Charles Owusu Kumi, the Binduri MP emphasized that MPs often face significant financial demands from their constituents, including requests for school fees, medical expenses, and other forms of assistance.
He noted that some senior MPs spend more than the allocated amount in their constituencies to support their constituents.
“They [critics] are right to some extent. But they can only be right if they don’t understand the nature of the job of a Member of Parliament in a constituency. Because this so-called GHC150,000 that is meant for us to do monitoring or whatever is woefully inadequate.
“Apart from we the poor MPs or we those who are starting, I know some senior MPs who even spend far more than the GHC150,000 in a week, in a month as far as the needs of their constituency are concerned. They pay school fees, they assist people in all sectors of life in their constituencies,” he justified.
The approved funds are intended to enhance educational infrastructure and resources, aiming to improve learning conditions across various communities.
-citinewsroom
