Its Scratch My Back, I Scratch Yours

Public opinion indicate that, majority of our Members of Parliament are in the August House for their own good and do not have the interest of their constituents as the objective for which they are in Parliament. Reacting to the vetting of three leading members of the House by the Appointments Committee of Parliament, majority of members of the public interviewed by �The Ghana Palaver� on their views on the vetting, said, they were surprised the conduct of the vetting for members of parliament was completely different from the way non-members of the House were handled. One thing that stood out clear from the survey carried out by the Ghana Palaver, was that when a nominee appeared before the Committee and he or she was a member of the August House, the line of questioning, the type of questions and the attitude of Committee members towards the nominee was different while additionally, members of Parliament were easily given the nod. Those interviewed also noted they have observed that irrespective of which political party the nominee belonged to, once he was a Member of Parliament, the committee was friendly toward him or her and the line of questioning made very easy. Members of the public also noted that when it comes to approving emoluments like allowances and ex-gratia for themselves, MPs don�t waste time at all on them and can even hold the government to ransom for delaying such payments but when it comes to things that impact negatively on the lives of their constituents, MPs rush to approve them; imposing on the people taxes, just as they did just before they went on recess last year with highway tolls and the VAT on ice water. Wednesday�s vetting, the line of questioning and the attitude of MPs towards each other according to some members of the public, were a clear demonstrations of the kind of MPs we have and it was no surprise the respect and fame of the politician was waning so fast that one is tempted to think that some constituents may refuse to vote come 2012. Evidence, some members of the public said, was in the way the Ministerial nominee for the interior, Mr Martin Amidu�s vetting was handled as compared to the members of Parliament adding, �was it scratch my back I scratch yours.� �It was a shame our Members of Parliament should be behaving this way, they don�t even seem to care the kind of perception the public have of them� one of the interviewees lamented. �It is unfortunate most of them won their seats because of their political parties and not they as individual candidates�, another said. Already, the vetting has heightened speculations among members of the public that the majority in parliament and the minority were bedfellows, that was why they can agree on things that are common to both sides and impact positive on their well-being but in most cases, their body language do not speak of their interest for the people who voted for them. �Our Members of Parliament should amend their attitude towards their constituents or with time, they will be irrelevant to the people they represent in the August House,� said a former Member of Parliament.