Haruna Iddrisu
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has said Members of Parliament (MPs) will push for their salaries and allowances to be equated to that of Appeal Court judges.
According to him, payment of gratuity and ex gratia to MPs are legitimate and lawful since they also come under Article 71 holders, adding that MPs are required to be paid such salary and allowances and provided with such facilities as may be determined in accordance with the constitution.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Press Corps at a press conference organised by the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Iddrisu said the gratuities paid to MPs are not just ex gratia, but salary arrears needed to be paid to “deserving Members of Parliament who have served their four-year term.”
“I believe and I stand by it that the salaries and allowances of MPs be equated to that of Appeal Court judges. That is my position, and I think that we will work towards it,” he stressed.
He stated that when gratuity and ex gratia are being discussed, “it is important that the public appreciates that our job there is no security of tenure.”
“When you are a public servant, they say retire at 60. This (ex gratia) has come in at the end of four years. We have to be entitled to it,” the Tamale South MP argued, and added that “what we need to do is to carry the public along. There are many of you who comment as if MPs are not deserving of it.”
He asserted that in 2016, there was no salary adjustment for MPs and this situation continued through 2017, 2018 and 2019, “yet every public servant like MPs got 21.5% salary adjustment in 2017, 12% in 2018 and 10% in 2019. So, all that is now being worked out.”
At the time of filing this report, Parliament was set to approve emoluments for Article 71 office holders (2017-2021) in respect of the Executive.
Article 71 office holders include the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court as well as Members of Parliament (MPs), Ministers of State, political appointees and public servants.
The payment of ex gratia to former public office holders has continuously been a controversial issue in the country, with details of the payments only made known to the officials.
However, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said Article 114 (1) of the constitution provides that “a person who has served as a Member of Parliament for a period of not less than four years shall be eligible, on ceasing to be a member or on his death, for the payment of such gratuity to him or his personal representatives, as the case may be, shall be determined, acting in consultation with the committee referred to in Article 71.
“So the payment of gratuity to Members of Parliament is constitutional. For those of them who said they don’t deserve it can be referred to Article 114.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House