The bestowment of the prefix, ‘honourable’ on our Parliamentarians is unnecessary

Not only have our Politicians taken us for a ride in the past with their slothfulness and ceaseless prevarication, they continue trampling on discerning Ghanaians. Currently, our Parliamentarians are aiming to resort to ‘irrational choice theory’ to give themselves a colossal salary increment, which can be described as selfishness. Although, such preposterous pay rise would be damaging to our already demised economy, our Parliamentarians seem oblivious to the apocalypse of their flagitious intended cause of action.

How ‘honourable would such irrational approach be? It would definitely be termed as dishonourable feat by the ‘Honourables! Their sheer lack of reflective thinking beats the hell out of me! Once upon a time, anyone who gained a seat in parliament was looked up to and respected by all; alas this is not the case anymore. We now hear about Parliamentarians of all parties yelling to take more money from us, (the taxpayers). In my humble opinion, our Parliamentarians should earn the prefix ‘Honourable’ instead of we (Ghanaians) bestowing such an important prefix to all sort of people in the name of political proclivities.

Honourable means characterised by or possessing honour. It refers to winning or deserving respect and honour. It can be used to mean the earning or bringing recognition and distinction. It is a quality consistent with good name and honour. Honourable can be used to mean illustrious or distinguished. Succinctly put, honourable can be defined as upright, honest and sincere.
How can we then call our Parliamentarians ‘honourables’ considering their abhorrent attitudes and behaviours toward the electorates who ensured these lots got to their comfort zones. In my view, there is nothing honourable in our Parliamentarians attempts to take more money from our national coffers, notwithstanding the ramifications of such ultra vires approach.

We ought to remind our Parliamentarians poignantly that they were elected to implement prudent, expedient or advantageous policies to solve problems within our midst. Albeit, they have failed woefully in the past and still failing abysmally to initiate prudent policies to rectify the failed policies of agriculture, food security, natural resource management, poverty reduction, resource allocation (e.g. in healthcare, education, finance, infrastructure, etc), supply chain management, humanitarian intervention logistics and security sector planning, amongst others. Needless to say, our ‘Honourables’ cannot be credited with any expedient policies that will move the nation forward.
Another thing that leaves me with puzzled countenance is our Parliamentarians persistent spurning of their constituents after these rabid supporters had voted them into power. During electioneering campaign, the aspiring Parliamentarians solicit votes from the uncritical electorates with vague rhetorical political inebriation , and only turn their backs on poor constituents when they get to their comfort zones. How pathetic! Put succinctly, our Parliamentarians have abhorrently reneged on their promises in the past, and still reneging on promises made in the umpteenth general elections. ‘Honourable’ indeed!

In this regard, I would like to urge all discerning Ghanaians in joining my campaign to strip our Parliamentarians of the prefix ‘honourable’. What is honourable in seeking around 180 per cent pay rise, following an earlier “inflational” pay rise of 17 per cent in October 2010? If their demand is met, they will jump from 2,500 to 7,000 Ghana Cedis. How honourable would that be? It would rather be dishonourable feat by our ‘honourables!
I suggest we take the prefix ‘honourable from our Parliamentarians and ensure that they earn such an important prefix. In future, we should only hand the prefix, ‘honourable to Parliamentarians who achieve laudable feats, and not carelessly bestowing ‘honourable on any indolent and irresponsible guzzler.

K. Badu, UK.