Two seek Supreme Court injunction on ‘MPs Common Fund’

Two citizens recorded as students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Cape Coast have filed a suit at the Supreme Court, seeking interpretation on the creation of the District Assemblies Common Fund as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. According to the writ filed on Monday, March 27, the allocation of part of the Common Fund to members of Parliament (MPs), assuming the name MPs Common Fund is “inconsistent with and sins against the letter and spirit of articles 252 (1), (2) and (3) of the Constitution, 1992”. The two citizens – John Ndebugri and Richard Kwadwo Nyarko – are seeking, among three reliefs, “interim injunction order restraining the District Assemblies Common Fund Administrator, his agents, assigns and servants from allocating or disbursing any portion or share of monies accruing to the District Assemblies Common Fund to Members of Parliament under any guise and Regional Coordinating Councils until the final determination of this suit”. The suit is against the Attorney General. The plaintiffs say there is nothing like MPs Common Fund in the constitution and the allocation of 5% of the District Assemblies Common Fund to the MPs’ is without legitimacy. The AG has been given 14 days within which to file its response. The issue has cropped up after it emerged that part of the District Assemblies Common Fund will be allocated for government’s new project of Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), which will see each constituency given $1 million. This was captured in the Minister of Finance’s budget delivery on Thursday, March 2. By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana Follow @kwame_amoh]]>