General News of Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Source: nnyamewaa.com

Open letter to Ghanaian MPs: Citizens need police protection too!

Dear Members of Parliament!

I hear you all returned to a safe and secured Parliament House on Tuesday. Now citizens cannot come to Parliament House to seek out their MPs without a fair bit of frisking at your new checkpoints.

May I say, congratulations in getting that sorted while you were away, who knew this efficiency was possible. I hear this was done to prevent possible terrorist attacks and while you are all happy with your new fortress, you'd want personal protection too.

The Deputy Majority leader, Alfred Agbesi made the call on your behalf. According to him, National Security should provide all MPs with adequate security considering the risk associated with your work. Not only that but also armed robbers have attacked some of you in your beds.

By now you know that request has outraged Ghanaians again. And as a citizen I cannot believe that you sought security for yourselves and forgot about us. I am even more gutted that your first request was for security for yourselves.

Where have you lot been? Did you not hear snippets of the GYEEDA report and the GRA/Subah scandal? People in government and civil service are robbing us (the citizens who elected you to serve) blind and you don't request to see the bosses of RLG, Zoomlion, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and the ministers who presided over this thievery? Why couldn't you order CHRAJ to begin investigations into these issues immediately?

You could have asked the president to ensure that all contracts with the companies indicted in the reports are suspended, until the issues are fully resolved and those who engaged in criminal acts dealt with. But as always you didn't you chose your personal comforts over us.

And to be honest, we are not surprised you did. How can you demand punishment for RLG or Roland Agambire, when the Public Accounts Committee which should be above reproach depends on him to fly first class when they travel? But Sirs, we are highly disappointed that you can look at the lives of your constituents and allow this thievery to slide.

2000 people are killed yearly in accidents on roads across the country. As the road safety commission will tell you, not every crash is as a result of speeding. Farmers continue to live in poverty because more than half their produce rots at the farm gate or on the way to the market. We still have a 1.4 million housing deficit. And instead of tackling corruption to free up money for these issues, you demand body-guards.

4 percent of Ghana's youth are unemployed, 45 percent of Junior high school graduates do not qualify for placement in Senior High or technical schools. Rural-urban migration is on the increase because of the lack of jobs. And no one is pushing government to find solutions to these problems. Is it any wonder you are being robbed?

Are you not even ashamed that the thieves in this country steal things like mobile phones and wedding rings?

Sirs, Ghanaians are living like prisoners in their own homes, high walls, electric fencing and bullet-proof doors. They do not feel safe. Women are being raped in front of their families. You cannot seek protection for just you and your families.

An MP's job is to serve his constituents and his conscience well, we need to unite as you did on issues related to your well-being; hurl the security capos before a committee, ask why a few boys on bikes can terrorize the whole of Kumasi? Ask for a list of what they need to create a safe country for all of us. And push government to provide and watch them deliver.

In places where MPs have done their jobs properly, they feel safe enough to use public transport and live like the rest of people.

If you continue to remain silent on growing list of corrupt deals between government and some businesses and look out for just yourselves, they'll not stop attacking us or you.

And seriously we need you to begin working for us - initiate bills, run investigations, properly supervise the government. Enough of the paid-holidays on us.

Respectfully yours,

A citizen mad as hell