The Majority Leader and the Member of Parliament for Suame, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has apologised to Members of Parliament for not making the design of the newly proposed Parliamentary Chamber known to them before airing it in the media.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu stated that it is inappropriate for Members of Parliament to hear the newly proposed Parliamentary Chamber in the media before they are addressed by the Parliamentary Service Board.
In a press conference organised by the leadership of Parliament, the Suame MP indicated that the decision by the Board to agree on the design of the proposed Chamber before making it known to MPs is wrong.
The Suame MP, who doubles as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, reiterated that he was not aware of the agreed designed, and that he was later briefed by the Parliamentary Service Board.
Honesty, I was not aware of the agreement on the design. I thought that was going to be limited to the Board because we needed further briefing on where we were on the project. Unfortunately, the process itself, I must admit, was not appropriate”, he added.
On the allegations of the executive spearheading the project, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister averred that the decision was not taken by the Executive Arm of Government, and that the project design was solely embarked on by the Parliamentary Service Board.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu is a member of the Parliamentary Service Board and also partakes in the decision making on the Board according to the Parliamentary system.
Parliament has come under heavy criticism after the design of a newly proposed Parliamentary Chamber was presented to the Parliamentary Service Board and the leadership of Parliament.
The House is divided on the proposal of the new Parliamentary Chamber from both the Minority and the Majority Caucus.
On June 28, 2019, officials from Adjaye and Associates paid a courtesy call to the Parliamentary Service Board and the leadership of Parliament, to discuss details of a proposed Parliamentary Chamber after it won the competitive tender.
The newly designed 450 MPs’ seater structure is expected to be located right in front of the premises of the current Parliamentary complex.
The main architect in charge of the project, Mr. David Frank Adjaye, explained that the project will be completed in three years if it begins before the end of the year 2019.
Source: GhanaJustice/S.Ayisi
