CJA CRIES OUT AGAINST PROPOSAL

The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has spoken out against the proposal to increase the salaries of Parliamentarians by more than 300 per cent.

In a statement issued in Accra the CJA said the level of increment for MPs should be within the range for civil and public servants.

The full text of the statement is published below;

The attention of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has been drawn to information that a “Review Committee” of parliament is about to submit a proposal for a salary increase for Members to the President's Committee on Emoluments. According to the information, the proposals expect the Committee on Emoluments to increase the salaries of MPs from the current circa GH¢3,000 per month to GH¢8,000.

We have considered the reasons advanced by various parliamentarians on the airwaves to justify their demand for such a high level of pay. Among them are the following:

That MPs need to meet the demands for financial assistance from their constituents

That the salaries of MPs need to be commensurate with pay structures in public corporations and industry.

The CJA is of the strong view that the tendency for constituents to make personal financial demands on MPs is a reflection of the lack of job opportunities and low-income levels in the country. It is an indication of how politicians who rule this country are failing in their responsibility to develop policies and programmes that achieve sustainable employment opportunities for the people of this country. We expect our MPs to work towards laws that promote mass employment instead of asking for monies in their individual pockets to make personal donations in ways that are neither transparent nor enhance the dignity of life of their constituents.

Secondly, we find it unacceptable that MPs should seek to equate their salaries to heads of public corporations. The job of an MP does not require any special qualifications, performance standards and compulsory hours of work; neither are they required to face the same high risks that the heads of industry and corporations face if they make the wrong decisions.

The CJA is aware that only last October, MPs were awarded a salary increase of 17%. In our view, the demand for an additional increase of more than 150% is unjustified on the following grounds:

At a time when public sector workers are being asked to tighten their belts and exercise restraint in their pay demands, it sends a wrong message when politicians make demands to suggest that they are loosening theirs.

It is morally wrong for the rest of the country to subsidise the personal promises that aspiring MPs make to their constituents during electioneering campaigns.

The CJA therefore proposes that the levels of any increase in the salaries of MPs must be set in line with levels of increase in the Civil and Public Service.

Finally, we propose to the President's Committee on Emoluments to propose a contributory pension scheme for Members of Parliament to which they, like all working people, can contribute a percentage of their salaries.

The CJA would like to think that when politicians strive to enter public service, they do so out of a commitment to work to meet the economic and social aspirations of their people, rather than anything that suggests an intention to feather their own nests.