Common Fund administrator turns away MPs

MPs who would want to access their share of the Common Fund directly from the office of the administrator have their hopes dashed as the office says that it is impossible.

Since its inception, MPs have always fought with their various DCEs to access their share of their Common Fund, which is also known as the Constituency Development Fund.

As a result, Parliament at its last meeting set up a committee to look at the possibility of the MPs accessing their fund directly from the office of the administrator without necessarily going through their DCEs.

But Joshua Magnus Nicol, the administrator of the DACF said everybody who benefits from the fund would have to account for how it was expended and for that reason since the MPs Common Fund comes under the budgetary allocation for their districts it would not be possible for them to access directly from his outfit.

Answering questions from participants at a two day workshop organised for members of the Parliamentary Press Corps at Koforidua, Mr Nicol noted that apart from the above reason all activities with regard to the use of the Fund would have to be done in the districts of the MPs.

According to him, there is already a facility in place that allows MPs to purchase items that are easily accessible in their districts. But even in these instances their DCEs would have been notified about their demands.

Mr Nicol said guidelines for the utilization of the Common Fund and its access were developed to ensure that people did not abuse it and use for purposes either than those envisaged before the establishment of the fund.

Source: The Heritage