Ghanaians were on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 hit with two major stories around two arms of government – a $28 million car loan facility for Members of Parliament and the formalization of an emolument package for the spouses of the President and his Vice.
With regards the former, the Ministry of Finance is contracting a loan package of $28 million for MPs, which will see each of them get $100,000; to buy official cars for their work.
With respect to the latter, the president agreed to a proposal from a five-member emolument committee which was approved by the seventh parliament okaying the payment of salaries to the First and Second ladies.
The new agreement indicates the first and second ladies will enjoy benefits and allowances like Article 71 office holders.
These two stories dominated the social media space on Wednesday with questions over the soundness of both.
Majority of social media users were furious that the country that claims to be bedeviled with debts is undertaking further borrowing to embark on a project that in their wisdom brings little benefit to the ordinary citizen.
Some also believe that the MPs, particularly the NDC MPs who have in the past few weeks positioned themselves as patriots should live by their principles by rejecting the offer.
On the issue of the salaries for the first and second ladies, some Ghanaians cannot seem to fathom why the government would even consider such a move.
They question the contribution of the two offices to the national affairs and examined if there will be value for money.
Others also clarified that the move by government is a formalization of an age-old practice of paying allowances to first ladies.
Source: ghanaweb.com
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