Media personality, Paul Adom-Otchere, has alleged that the approval of the monetary budget by Parliament for the GETFund projects allocated to Members of Parliament was intended to compensate certain lawmakers from the National Democratic Congress who were not given government appointments.
Parliament approved GH¢250,000 for each MP to fund education-related projects in their respective constituencies, along with an additional GH¢150,000 per MP for the monitoring of these projects.
Reacting to the development on Good Evening Ghana on April 3, 2025, Adom-Otchere asserted that some NDC MPs are dissatisfied with the government for sidelining them and not considering them for appointments.
He further claimed that these disgruntled MPs have expressed concerns that the lack of government appointments, which would have secured them budgetary allocations, could negatively impact their parliamentary prospects in the 2028 party primaries, leading to increased pressure.
“The reason as we have been told is that there’s concern from the 188 Members of Parliament of the NDC who did not secure ministerial positions, are not likely to secure board positions, and did not secure deputy ministerial positions and therefore, do not have any executive authority where they have the power of the pen to sign signatures and also get a budget to run with.
“And so, they feel that there will be pressure on them from their constituents given that everyone knows they are members of the ruling party and they may lose their primaries,” he alleged.
Adom-Otchere further alleged that in an effort to resolve the situation and appease its members, following rumors that the disgruntled MPs were planning to boycott and vote against any government business, the Minister of Finance has made arrangements to allocate GH¢400,000 every quarter to the MPs.
This payment, according to Adom-Otchere, is intended to secure their support for the approval of bills presented in the House.
“Now the story is that the NDC at the Ministry of Finance level is telling the MPs that when we bring things to Parliament, please vote for it. This is because there are conversations going off by the backbenchers that they will teach the NDC a lesson since they are not getting anything.
“They will fail every bill that comes and they have the numbers to do so. So, upon what looks like a pseudo threat, the Ministry of Finance and the NDC have decided that every quarter, they will make sure that there’s some paperwork, and processes to give every Member of Parliament GH¢400,000 of the taxpayers money. We just hope that is not true,” he added.
MAG/AE
Watch the latest Twi news below: