Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has denied reports that Members of Parliament (MPs) demand travel and transportation allowances before honouring invitation to events.
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MPs dont take 'soli'; they receive it - NPP MP
Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has denied reports that MPs demand allowances before honouring invitation to events.
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He said the reports are just allegations bent on tarnishing the image of the MPs.
Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show ‘Dwaso Nsem’, Friday, the Minority Leader who is also MP for Suame said it was rather event organisers who offer monies to MPs when they are invited to events.
He was reacting to comments by the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), SulemanaBraimah, who condemned the practice where some MPs demand travel and transportation allowance before honouring invitations to events.
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He said just as it was inappropriate for journalists to demand ‘soli’, it was also inappropriate for MPs to receive allowances when they go for public events.
But Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has vehemently denied the assertion.
Citing an example of an event he attended, the legislator said organisers after the programme gave some money to his driver to be given to him but he never demanded that his transportation and travel expenses be paid.
This according to him is what normally happens when MPs are invited for programme not that “we go and request for money”.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said there is nothing wrong if organisers decide to pay for the travel and transportation expenses of MPs or journalists when they are invited for programmes.
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That cannot even be said to bribery, pointed out.
He said he does not see anything wrong with the situation as long as it is not the MPs or the journalists who are demanding for the monies.
He stated that as a Minority Leader in Parliament he has never heard of an incident that an MP rejected an invitation because his travel and transportation allowance were not paid by organisers.
But if indeed there are some MPs who demand for these allowances to paid before they attend events, then it is unacceptable and “I don’t subscribe to that”, he noted.
He urged that a distinction be drawn between demanding for the allowances and receiving allowances voluntarily given by organisers in order to ensure that the work of the MPs and journalists is not unduly affected.
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He also called on the MFWA to provide the names of MPs who have demanded that their transportation allowances are paid before they honour invitations to events.
Source: Myjoyonline
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