Minority Leader of parliament Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has dispelled assertions that research assistants posted to parliament have been sacked due to inadequate funds to pay them. Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu explained that many of the research assistants were national service personnel who needed proper orientation to offer quality services to the various officials who they were assigned to. He said that there was actually a program in place to build their capacity, however, their service tenure had ended and they had to leave. Members of Parliament who requested to keep their research assistants were told that they would be responsible for paying the full cost of their salaries, which was an instant disincentive for the parliamentarians. According to the Minority Leader, the research assistants were mostly squatting, and could be seen standing in the lobbies and hallways as there were no proper offices to house them. He expressed the hope that the refurbishment of the MP’s offices would be completed in good time to forestall the problem. On what specific roles the research assistants were playing, Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said that there were no clear lines of rules on what the research assistants were supposed to do, and as such there was the concern that if the MP’s worked with them in their constituencies they would risk politicizing the scheme. According to the Minority Leader of parliament, the low remuneration for their services, coupled with the absence of functional offices for the parliamentarians imposed extra hardship on the research assistants in doing their work. Source: Joy FM