Ghanaian
President John Kufuor called an emergency meeting of parliament this week after
learning the finance ministry had approved $20,000 loans to each of the country’s
200 MPs to purchase luxury cars, a government spokesman told CNN.
The CNN report said that the news outraged citizens of Ghana, which has a national
debt of nearly $7 billion.
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A report in the state-run Daily Graphic newspaper said Wednesday that Finance
Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo approved the release of $4 million last month to enable
lawmakers to buy personal cars – mostly BMW’s and Mercedes-Benz – according
to an official list.
The CNN report says that the lawmakers, who sit for four-year terms, plan to
pay back the loans through monthly deductions of 1.3 million cedis ($185) from
salaries of only 1.5 million cedis ($200) a month, the paper said.
Lawyers’ associations and journalist groups in the country have threatened
to take to the streets if the loans are not withdrawn.
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