…About $4,500 of $20,000 Paid So Far
… CHRAJ Evasive On Enforcing Ruling on MPs Car Loans
Parliament has indicated that outstanding payments from the $20,000 car loan granted MP?s will be paid as soon as the Hesse Commission set up to work out the MP?s remuneration submits its report.
Public Affairs Director in parliament Jones Kugblenu says until MP?s salaries and conditions of service are determined, the directive from CHRAJ for the payment of the car loans cannot be honored.
Government suspended the monthly car loan deductions from the salaries of MP?s in October last year pending a review of their salaries.
This followed complaint by the MP?s that they would not be able to repay the car loan by the end of their four-year term, unless their $300 monthly allowance was reviewed upward.
Asked about how much of the $20,000 each MP had paid before the suspension, Mr Kuglenu said on an average scale, the MP had been able to pay about 40 million cedis out of the $20,000.
Asked again about how soon the MPs would be expected to pay the remaining amount, he said the government had set up a commission to determine their salaries and end-of-service benefits among others and that as soon as the Commission finishes its work, around January 6, the MPs would then be fully resourced to pay the loan.
Mr Kuglenu said the MPs are not running away from paying back the loan, but when deductions were made from their meagre allowances, they realised that it was not in their favour and called on the President to set up a commission to determine their salaries, adding that for the first two years they had been paying from their allowances.
Source: GhanaWeb
