A member of the Akufo Addo government and deputy Minister for Sanitation and Water, Patrick Yaw Boamah has said it will be a misplaced priority should the government go ahead and build a new Chamber of Parliament.
The construction of a new parliamentary chamber is expected to begin before the end of 2019.
The new chamber project which will be completed in three years is planned to begin before the end of the year and will be a multi-purpose building with a chapel, mosque, eatery, and a museum.
The construction of the new chamber has, however, gotten a section of the Ghanaian public opposed to the move with the Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak saying it was needless.
“Ghana clearly does not need a 450 member chamber. The expenditure cannot be justified. A country as small as Ghana should not be entertaining the thoughts of having a 450-member chamber. Yes indeed, democracy is expensive but we must not make it too expensive. Currently, there are many issues at the top of the minds of our constituents. Water, road, electricity, schools, you name it,” he argued.
Hon. Boamah who’s the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) Member of Parliament for Okaikoi Central in an interview stated that he’ll have a difficulty justifying the need for this new chamber as there are more pressing needs of Ghanaians that must be addressed.
“I belong to the Executive, I’m also a Member of Parliament and my position is that I think the timing is not right. Ghanaians have a lot of pressing needs that they want us to address which the government of President Akufo Addo is attending to seriously. We don’t want this issue to distract government activities, and so my view is that I have a lot of challenges in my constituency, how am I going to answer a question of this nature that a few things that I’m fighting through government to get done in my constituency I overlooked it and rather focused on a new chamber. I think first things first, going into the future we can think about it.”
