Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel George has revealed that legislators in Parliament are not responsible for fixing roads.

According to him, it is the duty of a member of parliament to lobby Parliament for roads to get fixed.

His comment follows a twitter post he made venting that the Minister for Roads is responsible for fixing roads.

“Everyone who is following that thread will realize that a large chunk of the people who came at me, later came back and said, look dude knows his game. I will hold my game against anyone. It is not the job of an MP to fix roads.

“A lot of people came and said to me I campaigned on it and I have challenged and dared everybody in this country, that anybody who can show a video clip or a recording of me [Sam George] at a campaign rally, promising to fix a road; I’ll resign from Parliament”.

I never campaign to fix roads

Sam George maintained that he has never in his tenure as an MP campaigned to fix roads in his constituency. Additionally, he noted that, it is the job of the Roads Minister to ensure that such issues are handled.

He further averred that he has always been transparent to his constituency on his part in addressing road problems.

“Listen, my campaign team has been bitter about me; because when we go to communities where there are problems with the roads in my constituency and they put it before me, I am clear to them. I say to them it is not my job to fix the road, it is the job of government. You pay taxes to government. There’s a minister of roads who gets an appropriation to fix the roads, I as an MP don’t get it. What I will promise you as your MP if you vote for me is, I will put pressure on that minister. I will lobby him and I will put enough pressure to get him to do his job. However, he doesn’t answer to me, that has always been my response.

“What I won’t have control over I won’t promise. I’ve said to them, when the road gets fixed, give me credit for lobbying for the road to get fixed; but give credit to government for fixing the road”.

Lobbying for projects

Lauding his achievement in getting roads in his constituency fixed, Sam George highlighted some challenges in getting issues addressed in Parliament.

He explained that, once a legislator files a question, it can take six months before the Speaker “would admit your question”. He further noted that it can take an additional six months for the business committee to “table it”.

“The Minister was appointed sometime in April 2017. In June 2017, less than three months into office, I had put sufficient pressure for the minister to come and inspect roads in my constituency. I am an opposition MP but in less than two months… how many NPP seating MPs have gotten the minister of roads to come to their constituency to look at their roads? I have written several letters, five times in four years. I have gotten the minister to come and answer questions in Parliament.

“So, there are MPs who have filed questions and when you file a question at the beginning of the year and that calendar year ends and the question is not taken, it is scrapped. For me to have gotten the minister five times [in] four years in my constituency tells you the work I’m doing”.