Office complex for MPs ready after many years of waiting

Parliament recovened yesterday, after a six-and - a-half week break, with the good news that the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the much awaited Job 600 Office Complex for members of the House has been completed.

The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, who announced this when he welcomed members back, said he had detailed some members of the leadership of the House as well as officers of the Parliamentary Service, to inspect the complex and report back to the entire House.

The House was scheduled to reconvene at the end of this month to give New Patriotic Party (NPP ) members of Parliament who are contesting parliamentary primaries enough time to canvass for votes but the postponement of the party's primaries, compelled the leadership of Parliament to shift the date forward.

Office Complex

Although Mr Adjaho did not state when the office complex would be occupied, it is expected that as soon as the House is briefed after the inspection, MPs would be given the go-ahead to use it.

Job 600 was built by the Dr Kwame Nkrumah government for the 1965 Organisation of African Unity (OAU) conference. No maintenance shedule was planned for the complex after his overthrow.

In 2007, the John Agyekum Kufuor government secured a $24 million loan to rehabilitate the structure for it to be the used by the MPs but the project did not take off until the Prof John Evans Atta Mills assumed office. But by then its cost had increased to $63 million.

After the money was expended, an additional $24 million was released to cover furnishing and other costs.

Issues for the House

Some of the topical issues to be considered during the current meeting are Constitutional Instrument ( CI 89) which will give legal effect to the holding of the district level elections.

A supplementary budget is also expected to be presented in the course of the meeting although some members of the leadership of Parliament are tight - lipped on the issue.

The National Disaster Management Bill, 2015 and other important bills are expected to be debated and passed into law.

Ministers of state are also expected to appear before the House to answer questions of members.

Punctuality

Welcoming MPs back to the House, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, expressed the hope that they would be punctual and diligent.

He wished those contesting parliamentary primaries the best of luck and said it was important that the rescheduling of the primaries did not affect business in the House.

He called for maximum co-operation from MPs and advised officials of government ministries, departments and agencies to respect the schedule of Parliament and submit legislative proposals to Parliament in time for approval.

The current meeting of Parliament is expected to last for  about 12 weeks.