Politics of Sunday, 12 October 2008

Source: GNA

MPs Common Fund should be seen as complementary - Dr Buame

Adaklu Kodzobi (V/R), Oct. 12, GNA - Dr Samuel Buame, an independent parliamentary candidate for the Ho East Constituency said the MP's Common Fund should be seen only as a complementary fund. "No hardworking Member of Parliament should rely solely on this fund for the development of his or her constituency". Dr Buame said this in an interview with the GNA at Adaklu-Kodzobi at the weekend.

He said if he won the mandate of the people, he would use his rich experience as a lecturer and his contacts in Ghana and abroad to transform the constituency, which he described as a "distressed one". "I will use the Common Fund to supplement the numerous help I will receive for the constituency's development," Dr Buame said. He said because of his marketability, almost all the political parties were approaching him to win him over to their fold and showed the press text messages allegedly sent to him by some leading members of the various parties. On the controversy surrounding the citing of the capital of the Adaklu Anyigbe District, Dr Buame said some newly created districts faced similar problems but resolved them so that of Adaklu could also be resolved.

Dr Buame said if Ghanaians continued to vote on party lines the country would continue to lose the services of dedicated and hardworking people. On the notion that as an independent candidate his voice would not be heard on the floor of parliament, he said the shining examples of most Independent Members of Parliament were there for all to see. Dr Buame said he saw himself as a unifying force in the constituency adding that he had learnt a lot of lessons from the 2004 elections and appealed to his supporters to be vigilant on the voting day in order not to make the mistakes that caused him the seat in the 2004 elections.