The Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam George has said he will resign from Parliament should anyone prove that he ever promised to fix roads in his constituency during the 2020 election campaign.
His comment was in reaction to a backlash by some Ghanaians in respect of promises made by MPs, on campaign trails, to construct roads. Sam George said he did not make any such promise.
Several people came to me and said, but you said that on the campaign platform, and I have challenged and dared everybody in this country that, should anybody show me a video clip or recording of me at a campaign rally promising to fix a road, I will resign from Parliament,” he said Thursday.
The Ningo Prampram MP had earlier urged Ghanaians to hold the Roads Minister to account in relation to the back of the #NameAndShame campaign. He maintained that the MP’s job was just to lobby for roads to be fixed.
“Asking an MP to get roads fixed? For real? The #NameAndShame campaign must be backed by basic knowledge. My job is to lobby but you have a Minister for Roads & Highways. If you have any bile, spit it at him for that is his job. I have lobbied. He has failed. Hold him responsible,” he twitted on May 7.
Speaking on the AM Show on JoyNews, Sam George said voters must blame themselves for voting for an MP because he/she promised to construct a road.
“Anybody who votes for an MP because he comes to stand in front of you and promises he will fix your roads, you have allowed yourself to be fooled, because an MP does not have the capacity to fix a road.”
According to him, any time he is questioned about the state of roads in his community, he asks the questioner to direct the question to the government.
“I am clear to them, and I put it to them that it is not my job to fix the road. It is the job of the government; you pay taxes to the government. There is a Roads Minister who gets an appropriation to fix the roads,” he stressed.
“What I will promise you as your MP when you vote for me is that I will put pressure on that Minister, I will lobby him, and I will put enough pressure to get him to do his job,” he reiterated.
Mr George was, however, quick to add that, “the Minister doesn’t answer to me. That has always been my response to the constituents”.
The MP also recalled instances where some campaign members tried to convince him to “just tell them you will fix the road, I tell them I won’t because tomorrow it will come back to me, what I don’t have control over I don’t promise.”
“However, when the road gets fixed, give me credit for lobbying for the road to be fixed but give credit to the government for fixing the road,” he said.
He stated that although he is an opposition MP, he was able to, in less than three months prove that he is capable of lobbying for solutions to challenges in his constituency.
“I have written several letters. Five times in four years, I have gotten the Minister to come and answer questions in Parliament and I put out videos on proceedings from the floor of Parliament.”
“The Roads Minister was appointed sometime in April 2017. In June 2017, less than three months into office, I have put sufficient pressure for the Minister to inspect roads in my constituency.”
“How many sitting MPs even in the NPP have gotten the Minister of Roads to come to their constituency to inspect completed road projects,” he quizzed.
“When you file a question, it can take six months before the Speaker will admit your question. And when he admits your question, it can take another six months before the Business Committee would table it.”
“So for me to have gotten the Minister, five times on roads in four years in my constituency, tells you the work I am doing,” he said.
