He
chided media practitioners in the country for not scrutinizing the facts
carefully before making a fuss about the issue.
According
to him, the Parliamentarians are not receiving the ex-gratia as a token of
appreciation but rather the constitution mandates government to make some
payments to them upon the recommendations of a Committee set up by the
President.
He
explained that the recent payments of monies to the Members of the Legislative
body were not only to settle their ex-gratia; the payments also captured their
sitting allowances, car loans and other debts the MPs owe since 2009.
He
also noted that the MPs have since the year specified not received full payment
of their salaries, for which the government doled out some monies to them
adding up to GH¢47 million.
The
government's approval of billions of cedis as ex-gratia to Parliamentarians in
the country has not only stirred passions but also left the general public to
raise concerns about the seemingly unfair treatment meted out to other public
sector workers when issues concerning their salaries and allowances are
broached.
Government
is reported to have settled all 230 Members of Parliament who served in the fifth Parliament of the Fourth Republic,
therefore paying over 600000 cedis to those lost their seats after the December
7 general elections and others who retained their seats.
Following
these revelations, doctors have embarked on a strike action which takes effect
from today to register their protest against the government for not paying
attention to their demands.
Also,
the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is gearing up to toll the
same line with the medical doctors as they have also demanded payment of their
2012 market premium arrears.
Although
government says it will remit the arrears in three instalments, the University
lecturers seem dissatisfied with the news and are holding discussions to
determine their next line of action.
The
NDC Communicator speaking on Radio Gold’s newspaper review on Monday held the
media responsible for the salvos shot at the government after honouring the
pleas of the MPs.
“I
think that the media unfortunately or sections of the media did not help
matters when they rushed without due recourse to the appropriate authorities in
Parliament. They rushed to the public gallery to say that government had paid
huge sums of monies to members of Parliament. They should have taken their
time, investigated the issue, have a full understanding of the facts and the figures
involved before going to the members of the public. So, if there’s confusion,
it is confusion that has been created by sections of the media for reasons best
known to them.”
“Government
has not in any way contributed to this confusion because government is not
engaged in the practice of disclosing the salaries paid to all categories of
public sector workers.” he said.
Meanwhile,
the House has released a statement explaining the payment schedule.
It
stated that “The payments also included
salary arrears and other statutory payments. Parliament wishes to further state
that although these payments have been due as far back as 2009, they were never
paid in bulk. They payments were received in four tranches; the first
instalment being in November, 2012.”
Source:
Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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