President Nana Akufo-addo
Parliament is no longer pursuing plans to
construct a 450-seater chamber for Members of Parliament (MPs) at the cost of $200
million which has sparked huge public uproar.
President Akufo-Addo is also reported not to be
in favour of the project saying “it is not on the country’s radar currently”.
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said
Cabinet has not received proposal from the Legislature concerning the chamber
for consideration.
“The executive arm of government has not been
engaged on this new chamber at all. Nana Akufo-Addo has not gone to cut sod for
any new chamber. The Finance Minister also has not released money for a new
chamber, so the claim that money has been made available for the new parliament
construction is not true. The allocation was for some works in Parliament and
it was clear in the budget,” he said on Starr
FM.
No Agenda
Acting Director of Public Affairs of Parliament,
Kate Addo, said on radio yesterday that Parliament is no longer pursuing the
agenda of constructing a new chamber.
She said on Peace
FM that plans had not been concluded that Parliament was going to build a
new chamber.
“There is no chamber to drop because it is not
going ahead,” she said, stressing that even though there is the need for a new
chamber block for parliamentarians if Ghanaians are against it “we are not
going to continue.”
“We are thinking that it was a very lofty idea, obviously if it did
not go down well with the people, we are ready to accept but it doesn’t mean
the need was or is not there. It is just that it is not one of the things
Ghanaians are looking for now,” she added.
Majority Leader
Quite in the same vein, the Majority Leader, Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, at a press briefing, indicated that Parliament was ready to
listen to the interest of Ghanaians before a final decision would be taken on
the construction of the proposed 450-seater new chamber block for
parliamentarians.
“I would strongly suggest that if the people we represent insist
strongly that we shelve this idea of a new chamber, why not? We would do it
because after all, we represent them and cannot force anything on them,” the
majority leader said at the press briefing.
When Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was contacted on the idea of abandoning the project yesterday, he said that the Parliamentary Service Board was scheduled to meet at 5 pm yesterday to take a final decision on that and when that is done it would be communicated to the public.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr
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