The Committee for Joint Action (CJA) on Wednesday condemned any attempt to award Members of Parliament (MPs) salary increases of more than 150 per cent saying the reasons for the demand were unjustified.
“The CJA therefore proposes that the levels of any increase in the salaries of MPs must be set in line with levels in increase (in salaries) in the civil and public service,” the pressure group said.
It also proposed to the President’s Committee on Emoluments to propose a contributory pension scheme for MPs to which they, like all working people, can contribute a percentage of their salaries.
The CJA’s argument was contained in a press statement signed by Mr Duke Tagoe.
It said the CJA’s attention was drawn to information that a “Review Committee” of parliament was about to submit a proposal for a salary increase for MPs to the President’s Committee on Emoluments for an increase from the current GH¢3,000 per month to GH¢8,000.
“We find it unacceptable that MPs should seek to equate their salaries with heads of corporations. The job of an MP does not require any qualifications, performance standards and compulsory hours of work; neither are they required to face the same high risks that the heads of industries and corporations face if they make the wrong decisions.”
The statement said only last October MPs were awarded a salary increase of 17 per cent.
Therefore, it would be unfair for the government to adhere to the MPs demands at a time when public sector workers are being asked to tighten their belts and exercise restraint in their pay demands.
The statement said it was morally wrong for the rest of the country to subsidise the personal promises that aspiring MPs made to their constituents during electioneering campaigns.
“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,” it said.