The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has cautioned the public to be wary of negative comments and attacks on Members of Parliament (MP) about the proposed 450 capacity chamber block for the conduct of government business.
In the view of Hon. Bagbin, who is also the Member of Parliament for Nadowli/Kaleo constituency, the negative criticisms on the project and the sheer attacks on MPs has dire consequences on the country, urging the public to do away with such bad conduct.
“What is happening now is eroding the pillar of democracy in the country which is Parliament – that is the pillar of democracy in this country – in fact all over the world and so we should be courteous with careful and cautious about how we talk about Members of Parliament and Parliament as an institution. I hope that Members will not contribute to that negativity”, he note.
The Second Deputy Speaker made this observation when commenting on the proposed 450 capacity chamber block while presiding over Wednesday’s sitting.
His comment was in response to that of the MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor who argued while contributing to a statement made by the MP for Assin South, Rev. Ntim Fordjour on the chamber of Canada’s Parliament which he described as smaller than that of the chamber of the Parliament of Ghana even though it has larger capacity to contain more lawmakers than that of the West African nation.
Following the South Dayi legislator’s comment, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu reacted to correct the erroneous impression created by Mr. Dafeamekpor.
Hon. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told the House that as he speaks, the Parliament of Canada in Ottawa was under renovation and that “the renovation is going to end up in expanding the chamber”.
However, the deputy Minority Leader, Hon. James Klutse Avedzi, contested the claim by the Majority Leader, insisting that there is no way the Parliament of Canada could expand the chamber looking at the size of it.
“The chamber is within the main building and there is no way they are going to expand”, he noted.
The interjection by the Minority Leader then provoked the Hon. Bagbin to set the records straight since he together with Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has operated in the Chamber of the Parliament of Canada before.
“Hon. Deputy Minority Leader, I have operated in that Chamber with the Majority Leader. We have moved motions on the floor of that chamber. So we know where the chamber is situated; we know the size of the chamber; and we know why it is in that shape. There is a history to everything. And so you wait when they present the issue for debate and I’m sure it will be done on the floor. Because many things are done outside the knowledge of Members of Parliament. And the Majority Leader has assured me that it is going to be discussed will be brought up for debate and a decision will have to be taken by the House. That is the right thing to do”, he explained.
He added “Even the earlier issue about the purchase of the furniture, particularly, precedes for this chamber was not a decision by Members of Parliament. It was not a decision of the House. And so the public, please move away from trying to put that blame on Members, castigating Members and all those things as if the furniture they are using in their various workplaces are furniture that are ordered and paid for by they themselves. It is not the duty of Members of Parliament to do that, please. It is our duty to educate the public on these matters”.
