April 18, 2013

A former Majority Leader under the Kufuor administration, Felix Owusu Agyapong has called for intense orientation for persons who want to engage in politics or hold political office to help prepare them for life outside or after politics.

Some Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) are reported to be living as paupers due to their inability have exit plans while in office and properly re-integrate themselves into society.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, the former Majority leader advised that Ministers, MPs and other government appointees should see themselves as contract employees because
Recalling his life as a Minister, Mr. Agyapong stated that “when I was a Minister, I used to tell myself that I’m a Minister for a day; 24hours” because the President in any 24 hours can make a change in his government.

According to him, politicians should consciously and continuously tell themselves that “if you are a Minister, you are a Minister for 24 hours; if you are an MP; you are an MP for four years by our constitution…we need to find a way of getting people who want to go into these two public lives would have to accept…so that when things come to an end, there will be no problem.”

In a related development, the former Majority leader under the Mills administration, Cletus Avoka advised his colleague MPs and Ministers to learn to be humble and modest while in office “otherwise…when you leave Parliament, you will run into serious challenges.”

“There are MPs who have left Parliament and after two three years, you look at them and you know that they have challenges written on their faces,” he said.

citifmonline.com