Abena Osei-Asare
A US$28 million loan facility to finance the purchase of vehicles for Members of the Eighth Parliament has been presented to the House for approval.
Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, laid the medium-term loan agreement on behalf of the Minister for Finance on Tuesday evening.
The National Investment Bank Limited is providing the US$28 million to finance the MPs’ vehicles.
The bank is also providing another US$3.5 million to finance the purchase of vehicles for Members of the Eighth Council of State (2021-2024) as part of the medium-term loan agreement.
Both facilities were referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.
Reject Car Loan
Meanwhile, the Member of Parliament (MP) of Okaikwei Central, Patrick Yaw Boamah, has said he wishes the legislators will reject the car loan facility to enable the state to provide them vehicles, just like members of the other arms of government.
According to him, the four-year cycle of car loans has made MPs the easy target for public opprobrium, stressing that “if I have my way or the power, I will tell my colleagues to reject the car loan and ask the government to procure vehicles for us to use in the performance of our duty.”
“I don’t see why we should be the subject of this public bashing because the loan agreement that the Finance Ministry is contracting from NIB is for MPs and members of the Council of State,” he stated, and added “we do this for every four years but I have not heard people talk about the Council of State because MPs are easy target. It is a necessary evil; it comes with our job.”
“But nobody has asked why the executive and judiciary are given vehicles by the state without having to procure a loan,” the MP pointed out.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House