The Member of Parliament for Wa Central Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo said it is time successive governments formulate policies that target individuals. This he explained will help cure the tendency of people depending on state officials and other political heads for their needs.
On June 4, 2021, the Wa Central MP demonstrated his frustration in two twitter posts, over what he termed ‘harassment’. He wrote in the first post: I woke up to see a queue at my porch. 1st visitor requested money to plough his 10acre land, 2nd needed money to roof his 2 bedroom house, 3rd visitor needed money to pay debt, 4th funeral expenses and 5th needed school fees. Can we change politics?
The second post reads: Point is not about not wanting to help nut the frustration about the pain of not able to satisfy 100s of people seeking such help. We need to uplift our people through policies that can effectively employ them.
Meanwhile speaking with Noel Nutsugah, host of Statecraft on Zylofon 102.1fm, the Wa Central MP explained that even before he became legislator, he has been helping the needy and thus found nothing wrong with helping people. But the challenge here according to him is how bad the situation has become, while blaming lack of individual centered policies from past and present governments to deal with the issue.
“We need policies that target individuals so that when they are working and earning, they will not have to depend on people for such menial helps, such as transportation, money for funeral, money for outdooring and so forth. These are things they can do if there are jobs that they can do”
Asked why he is now complaining about something he said persisted for a long time, Rashid Pelpuo responded that “I always talk about it but it has become terrible now, that is why we need to educate, encourage and uplift people so that the things they seek from their MPs, they can provide it themselves”.
“As MP, I continue to give medical students scholarships, get tractors to plough farm lands and all that but the problem I have is, to wake up every day to see people queue waiting for you every morning is embarrassing“, he narrated.
The Wa Central MP averred that, because of general hardship and poverty in the system, people see “ordinary” things held by MPs to be too much hence the pressure. “But if you strengthened them, they will be able to pay for their expenses and not see the need to harass their MPs”.
“I will implore government agencies responsible for education and information dissemination, to engage on vigorous campaign to educate the public on the role of their MPs while government also role out policies, as I said earlier, that can benefit individuals“, he concluded.
