Majority Leader soldiers on selflessly for mother Ghana

My attention has been drawn to a Memo being circulated on Social Media that the Majority Leader/Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Hon Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (MP, Suame) has been paid an amount totaling Seven Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty-Three US Dollars ($7543.00usd) to undergo Medical Review in Dubai.

As indicated on the memo, the allowances paid were for 4 items officially due the Majority Leader per that travel and not payment for his medical review bill. The Majority Leader has already publicly confirmed that he went to Dubai for a second opinion after the initial diagnosis here in Ghana. So this is no news.

My Eagle-eyed investigations point the source of this revelation to some ‘Squatters’ in the Speakers Office with the intention to neutralize Ghanaians legitimate request for immediate cessation of wanton dissipation of Parliament’s funds by Speaker Bagbin through Medical Reviews abroad.

This, they believe, was hinted by Majority Leader on radio that since December 2021, some MPs have filed questions about the health status of the Speaker and how much Parliament has spent on him, which he the Leader doesn’t think should be made public.

Now, with the so-called exposition by the goons of Bagbin, the Majority Leader should cause the opening up of the expenditure on Bagbin immediately. At least, it will present the nation with clarity on who has Ghana at heart.

It seems people have no shame to have drawn a straight line between Speaker’s profligacy and the rather infinitesimal expenditure on Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. We agree it is legitimate for the state to spend on public servants when they are indisposed. For instance, my checks have it that, a staff in the Speaker’s Office recently underwent eye treatment in South Africa at a cost of over US$20,000. That is legitimate, so the hirelings of Bagbin don’t reveal it. A Deputy Clerk in Parliament, Alhaji Gombia, underwent medical treatment in UK at a total cost of over £80,000. The two expenditures are surely lower than the amount spent on Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. I guess!! That is why the nephew of Bagbin, also called Bagbin, who Speaker Bagbin has caused to be employed at the Accounts Department of Parliament, and who Bagbin is using to churn out the mischief, is not worrying himself about those.

Ghanaians agree that the state must legitimately take care of its own. It is, however, appalling to syphon such colossal amounts from Parliament and pretend at the same time to be requesting monies to advance the cause of Parliament as Speaker Bagbin is doing.

Bagbin’s 5 travels outside the shores of Ghana for Medical Review has cost Parliament a whopping $1.1million USD. This looks unsustainably scary. Doesn’t it?. It is surprising that this issue is not on the front burner given our current economic circumstances.

Comparing this $1.1million usd to a paltry $7,543usd, in apparent attempt to seek justification for daytime attack on Parliament’s finances, only makes mockery of the Speaker Bagbin.

My checks have also indicated that Majority Leader’s Allowance is not even comparative to the $18,500usd paid your Carer. The Speaker’s Carer travels First class and is paid $18,500usd per travel. She, the Speakers wife, is not sick! In any event, by Parliamentary Service Act, a Carer can only travel Economy class!! Is this not outrageous that whilst the Minority calls the President to travel by Commercial flights, the Speaker’s Carer travels First Class for a duty that is by no measure comparable to that of the President?

Fellow Ghanaians, be assured that the Majority Leader/Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (Hon MP), remains focused and is soldering on as Leader of Government Business to help mother Ghana overcome challenges being posed by global catastrophes on us. He is not sick by God’s grace as his detractors desire and suggest and has no intention to milk the State for personal gains.

Thank you.

Agyemang Richard

(Concerned Patriot, Suame)