David Apasara
A former Member of Parliament for the Bolgatanga Central Constituency on the ticket of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), David Apasara, has joined Members of Parliament (MP) calling for a welfare package to cater for themselves when they leave Parliament.
According to him, aside the money they get at the end of their four-year term, MPs do not get any other financial support from the state including pension benefit.
In his view, the absence of a pension scheme or an old age welfare scheme for Members of Parliament was not good for Ghana’s legislature, saying, “… as it is now Members of Parliament are not able to give of their best as expected because, many are attending to other businesses outside their duties in Parliament so as to make money they can depend on when they get out of parliament.”
Mr. Apasara was speaking in an interview with the media in Bolgatanga, where he also disclosed that life after serving in Parliament was not easy, especially for former Members of Parliament who hailed from deprived constituencies.
“I have been out of Parliament for over 10 years and yet people still come to me with their problems and they expect you to be able to help them. I tried to do the little I can to help them, but I must emphasis that the live of a former MP is not easy.”
He lamented that “when you are in office, you can contact your colleagues MPs who are Ministers of State to help you solve a problem in your constituency, but when you leave Parliament and do not have that privilege it becomes difficult.”
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga