Loan Agreement To Purchase Vehicles For MP’s, Council Of State Laid In Parliament
The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori Atta on the 7th July 2021 tabled in Parliament a medium-term loan agreement for an amount of $28 million to finance the purchase of vehicles for the members of the 8th Parliament from 2021 to 2024.
The agreement is between the government, the members of the current Parliament and the National Investment Bank (NIB), which will be financed the procurement.
The agreement, which is expected to be approved in July 2021, will see each of the 275 MPs being given about $100,000 to acquire brand-new four-wheel vehicles.
Per the agreement, which will see the MPs being offered low interest rate facility, will see to the beneficiaries using their salaries in the next four years—January 2021 to December 2024—to repay for the loans.
The agreement was laid in the House on behalf of Mr Ken Ofori Atta by the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Abena Osei-Asare.
Facility for State Council members
She also laid a paper covering a loan agreement for an amount of $3.5 million to finance the purchase of vehicles for the members of the Council of State.
The two agreements have been referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.
Sharing views on the loan agreement with the press in Parliament, the Vice Chairman of the Finance Committee, Mr Patrick Yaw Boamah said the various arms of government, from the Executive to the Judiciary, were given government vehicles without having to procure loans.
“That is why if I had power, i would ask my colleagues to reject the facility and request the government to rather procure vehicles for MPs to perform their duties and after four years we leave the vehicles for the state,” he said.
He stated that for all other arms of government vehicles were procured for officials without having to go through the public scrutiny like what “the media is bashing MPs for contracting loans.”
“I do not see the reason why we should be the subject of this public bashing because it is a loan agreement the Finance Ministry contracted with the NIB of Ghana for members of Parliament and the Council of state”, he said.
He said before he stated taking his salary in the current Parliament, he was given a notice that from February this year a certain amount of money would be deducted from his salary in anticipation of the car loan which was due to be approved in July 2021.
“So, from February, I started paying even though I have not seen the loan,” he said.
We deserve vehicles
Sharing his perspective, the NDC MP for South Dayi, Mr Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, described as unfortunate offensive comments made against MPs due to vehicles’ loan.
He said during the pendency of the loan, the vehicles would not belong to the MPs since they would only get the vehicles transferred to their names after they had paid all the loans.
He argued that while most MPs had been in office barely six months ago, some of his colleagues came to Parliament in Uber vehicles, which he described as “very dangerous.”
“The arrangement for the loan is wrong and for me it is wrong but I cannot say because it is wrong, I will not accept it if there is no alternative.
“If there is a more credible alternative which is that I will be assigned an official vehicle so that at the end of the four years whatever arrangements there are in respect of the vehicles we do, that is acceptable to me,” he said.
He pointed out that since January some amount of money had been deducted from his salary even though he had not seen the vehicle yet.
He recalled that it was during the Speakership of Mr Peter Ala Ajetey that it was realised some MPs were dying as a result of road accidents due to the fact that many were using salon vehicles that were robust enough to withstand crashes.
“It got to a time when we had four by-elections and four MPs died. So Mr Ajetey directed that as much as possible four-wheel vehicles be acquired for MPs. So they move away from acquiring secondhand vehicles to brand new vehicles
“So I agree that if the state can get me an official vehicle so be it,” he added.
From: Obaapa Naana Frimpomaa, Parliament House
