Go Into Politics If You Want To Go Broke – Opposition Party (NDC) Youth Organizer.

By Maxawell Nkansah

The National Youth Organizer for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Opare Addo has said, Members of Parliament (MPs) sacrifice serving the nation and leave the political scene worse off, so it can only be right if they are treated well while in government.

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Pablo, as he is affectionately called, said looking at former appointees is a good case study of the suffering that former politicians go through a few years after exiting government. It looks like former appointees, when people leave government and you see them after sometime, you will begin to appreciate that it is not as rosy as we make it to seem and the reality is that it is difficult. It is not rosy.

He stated that, you will meet some of former Members of Parliament and when they tell you they were former MPs, you don’t want to believe it because of the harsh conditions they live in. The National Youth Organizer said the situation is even worse for those who entered politics and assumed front roles such as DCE, MCE and ministerial appointments.

According to him, immediately you assume a front role in politics, especially an MP, a District Chief Executive or a Minister, the pressure that comes with it is overwhelming. Our culture settings are such that everybody begins to depend on you. George Opare Addo said the politicians are to blame because the way they carry themselves when they assume office, the way they communicate, the way they talk, they create the impression that it is all good but in reality, it is really tough..

He said things are extremely tough now; some carry so much debt that they have to use their ex-gratia to clear their debt. “I know people take their ex-gratia and use it all in settling debt. Further said, he has colleagues who went into government well off and left government worse off. George Opare proposed ways of solving this issue, Pablo suggested “a national conversation to be established to know how they are going to deal with their public officials and the kind of pressure they put on politicians.