Accra, Ghana, July 4, 2019//-Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), a leading nongovernment organization has called on Parliament, the Parliamentary Service and the government to heed justifiable citizen opposition to the proposed new chamber building for Members of Parliament (MPs) in the country.
In a statement issued by Efua Idan Atadja, a Communication Specialist at CDD-Ghana, the country doesn’t need to build such plush chamber at this time.
It added that; “CDD-Ghana does not believe that construction of a new and expanded chamber at an estimated cost of $200 million is reasonable or justifiable at the present time.
In the face of the numerous basic needs facing communities across the country, including a lack of safe and decent physical structures, facilities, and fixtures for many basic schools, a chronic shortage of beds in public hospitals, the deplorable condition of many of the country’s roads, and sundry other basic infrastructural and material deprivations facing various populations of citizens, construction of a new edifice for Parliament is a clear case of misplaced priorities.
The political class is getting out of touch
Moreover, it paints the picture of a political class that is either out of touch with the people’s everyday needs and struggles or is more concerned with providing for their own material comforts than with the existential needs of citizens and deprived communities across the country.
CDD-Ghana is of the view that, Government’s “Ghana Beyond Aid” vision would suffer a loss of credibility as long as scarce public resources continue to be spent on self-serving projects of the political class at the of the persistent and widespread developmental challenges and needs of the people, according to the statement.
To this end, the CDD-Ghana called on Parliamentary Service and the government as a matter of urgent halt the ongoing preparations to construct the new 450-seat legislative chamber at whopping of $200 million.
“We risk making our democracy unpopular when we make it needlessly expenses”, it lamented.
Constitutional tasks and roles
The CDD-Ghana acknowledged the important constitutional tasks and roles assigned to Parliament and believe, with many Ghanaians, that the Parliament of Ghana must be adequately empowered and resourced to discharge its responsibilities and roles effectively.
In this regard, CDD-Ghana noted with satisfaction, efforts made by successive governments of the Fourth Republic, despite the country’s perennial fiscal challenges, to meet the essential physical needs of the House and its members.
Notably, over the past two decades, Parliament has benefited from the construction of an administrative block that includes offices and meeting rooms for its Select and Standing Committees; the completion of the State House Tower Block, popularly known as ‘Job 600’, which has provided office accommodation and meeting rooms for Parliamentarians; and the expansion and refurnishing of the legislative chamber to accommodate the increase in the number of Parliamentarians following the creation of new constituencies in the 2012 elections.
All things considered, the NGO believes that Parliament is relatively well resourced at the present time and for the foreseeable future, in terms of its physical needs.
What Parliament lacks but needs to make it a credible part of a system of constitutional checks and balances and a true policymaking partner to the Executive are not more fancy brick-and-mortar; what Parliament needs to assume its proper place in our governmental system are the appropriate institutional powers, prerogatives, and self-governing rules that would enable Members to initiate legislative solutions to public problems and exercise meaningful oversight of the Executive and public administration, the statement noted.
African Eye Report
