MP for Bantama; Daniel Okyem Aboagye
Member of Parliament for Bantama Constituency in the Ashanti region; Daniel Okyem Aboagye has asked Ghanaians to relax and have confidence that the President will take the best decision on the matter of a new Parliamentary Chamber.
Ghanaians are outraged about attempts by Parliament to build a new and bigger chamber of Parliament at the cost of some US$200m.
News broke last Friday that Ghana’s parliament is considering building a new ultramodern 450 capacity chamber to serve the lawmakers. The current chamber seats 275 MPs.
The Parliamentary Service Board has already received the architectural model for the new chamber from renowned Ghanaian architect David Frank Adjaye.
Justifying the idea, the Majority leader of Ghana’s Parliament; Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu the new chamber will provide security for MPs and improve the Speaker’s ability to see MPs blocked from view by pillars in the chamber. He also believes it is time for Parliament to get its own chamber after customising the State House for its work since 1992.
Many however are unhappy with the justifications and have taken to social media to lash the ruling government over the matter.
An activist group is also collecting signatures against the building of the new parliamentary chamber under the name; #DropThatChamber. The group has threatened to embark on a demonstration by 13th July, 2019 to pressure the government into halting the proposed project.
The MP for Bantama believes that country’s hard-earned revenues should not be used to build the proposed chamber when there are more pressing needs. He suggests however that if there is a special grant or concessional loans specially for such purposes that will make sense.
The MP however insists that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government is a listening government and will do what is in the interest of the nation. “When we wanted to bring the road tolls, Ghanaians stood against it and we listened to them, this government is a listening government” he stressed.
He however wants the minority caucus to desist from attempts to score political points from the ongoing bashing the government is receiving over the New Parliamentary Chamber.
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