Assembly member for Bulpiela electoral area in the Tamale South constituency, Hon. Abubakari Issah has welcomed the promise by Former President John Mahama and the NDC to pay monthly allowances to all Assembly members saying it is a step in the right direction.
To enhance local governance in Ghana, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has promised to pay all assembly members monthly allowance when voted into power in the 2020 general elections.
“Putting partisanship aside, it is a laudable idea. Someone says he will support us to do our work effectively, even if it was coming from the present government, we would have supported it”.
“We are thinking that partly it will reduce our burdens and frustrations we assembly members go through to serve our people”
During a meeting with the Ghana Association of Assembly Members, Flag bearer of the party, Former President John Mahama explained that the allowances will be paid with the savings his government will make by drastically cutting down the number of ministers in his next administration in 2021.
Speaking to Diamond news in an interview, Hon. Abubakari Issah opined that the promise if fulfilled will enable assembly members serve their communities better considering the fact that assembly member’s rely solely on their personal resources to help their electorates.
“Sometimes it is very difficult, especially for our colleague assembly members who don’t have a good source of income, even if it is a token, we can budget with that to support our communities”.
The Bulpeila assembly member lamented that “imagine a Member of Parliament having something from the common fund; it wouldn’t be out of place to give just a fraction of the District Assembly Common fund to the Assembly members to manage our communities”.
Story by: Edward A. Ken-Zorre
