Hackman Owusu Agyemang revives calls for new parliamentary chamber
A member of the Parliamentary Service Board, Hackman Owusu Agyemang, has reignited the need for a new chamber.
According to the Chairman of the Council of Elders for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), the current chamber for parliamentarians is not ideal for their work.
Mr Owusu-Agyeman a three-term MP, who entered Parliament in 1996 and exited in 2004 as New Juabeng North MP, argues that legislators need a facility that will help them in their work but not the current chamber.
“It is necessary to build a better place just like we built a new place for the courts,” he said in an interview on Joy News.
“Parliament is a tenant of the state protocol. We do not own a single property,” he added.
There was anger from social and mainstream media when news broke that plans were underway for the construction of a new $200 million chamber in July 2019.
A section of the public strongly protested on social media with the hashtag #DropThatChamber to register their opposition to the move by the parliamentary service board.
A planned demonstration against the move was dropped when the Acting Director of Public Affairs of Parliament, Kate Addo, announced the proposed new parliamentary complex idea had been shelved.
Kate Addo in an interview stressed the fact that parliament as a house of representation, seeks to always pass laws in favour of constituents. The outrage occasioned by the proposed new parliamentary complex, she said, was indicative of the public’s clear disapproval of its construction at this particular point in time.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who was the most vocal MP who championed the construction of the new chamber on numerous media platforms justified why they needed the new facility.
He later made a U-turn saying no firm decision had been reached.
But Hackman Owusu Agyeman, who is also the former New Juabeng North MP, insists a new chamber is needed to facilitate the work of MPs.
According to him, the failure to ascertain the views of citizens by the government facilitated the negative reactions received.
“It was heartbreaking in seeing the reaction of Ghanaians. The PR was not well handled and the views of the people were not sought,” he stated.