Politics

Conduct of MPs over new chamber borne out of comfort – Joyce Mogtari

Joyce Mogtari, the Spokesperson of former President John Mahama, has described a decision by the Parliamentary Service Board to construct a new parliamentary chamber for the House as a misplaced priority.

She observed that there were pressing issues, especially in the health sector that needed attention than wanting to build a new 450-seat chamber, and thus the conduct of Parliament may be borne out of quick desire to satisfy comfort of parliamentarians, until completion of Job 600 Office Complex and under the Mahama-led administration, some Members of Parliament (MPs) did not have offices and others also shared offices.

“I find it surprising how they are now pushing to have a new chamber soon after the completion of the office complex, take it back, these are people who did not even have offices any way, sometimes I think we are in hurry to worry about our comfort, when you look at reasons as ascribed to by the majority, I was taken aback.

“What has caused disaffection in public and within parliament has to do with the lack of communication on the part of the leadership of the House, I first heard about the project from the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was not abreast with the issue, I must confess the first time I heard about the issue,  when I heard him speak on the subject, it appeared he was not certain about figures, but gave figures between150million and 200 million dollars.

The news of the new chamber has been met with public outrage and protests captured under the social media campaign #DropThatChamber, which led to the arrest of three of the protesters in parliament with major concerns from the public and some MPs, from both sides of the House, have been whether the chamber is a priority and some are also concerned about the estimated $200 million involved.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had justified the decision with the reason that the House is congested, making it difficult for some MPs to be able to catch the Speaker’s eye, he, however, said during a press conference that the project was still at its preparatory stage and that MPs had not been briefed on it yet. -3news.com

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