'Strike' In Parliament Over Pay Arrears

An unprecedented outrage in Parliament over pay related grievances of MPs has compelled Speaker, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo to suspend today's sitting after angry MPs threatened to arrest proceedings of the House. The suspension is to allow the Majority Leader to hold consultations with her on how to address the concerns of the angry MPs. The House is due to rise on Thursday, after a meeting that has traveled more than thirteen weeks. Investigations by Citi News show that most MPs are broke after cash-sucking Parliamentary primaries that drained the bank accounts of many lawmakers and left many others heavily indebted to various banks from which they took loans for their campaigns. With general elections looming, many MPs are worried that they may not find enough money to fund their campaigns if they do not compel the Executive arm of government to release their pay arrears. If the MPs stick to their guns and refuse to work, more than a dozen important motions scheduled for approval could suffer, meaning leadership may have to extend the current meeting of the House. Insiders say MPs are angry over the NDC government's failure to release their "back pay from as far back us 2009." "Our salary arrears have not been paid since 2009 yet we sat in this house and approved budgets that ensured that public sector workers received their back pay. This is why we are angry," one angry MP said. "If the government does not pay us, we will simply not work," another angry MP said. The MPs are also demanding that they be paid their ex-gratia before the end of the life of this Parliament in order to avoid the 2009 spectacle after the late President John Mills froze the end of service benefits of lawmakers who served in the fourth Parliament of the fourth Republic after public outrage of the sheer size of benefits approved for MPs. The issue was reportedly discussed behind closed doors yesterday and MPs were expecting what one called "good news from the Majority leader today. But he was more interested in getting us to finish the business before the House than compel the government to pay us."