Speaker appeals to govt for new chamber of Parliament

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye has appealed to government to provide a new chamber for Members of Parliament.

He made the call after the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia paid a visit to Parliament on Wednesday morning to assess the extent of damage caused by the Tuesday’s rainstorm.

The roofing sheets of Parliament House were ripped off Tuesday night by a rainstorm that hit parts of Accra. The rain which was heralded by a heavy wind ripped off part of the roof causing a leakage.

Dr Bawumia said in the immediate government will support the renovation of the roof which was ripped off during the storm.

He said consideration will be given to the request made by the leadership of Parliament for a new chamber.

“I had to rush here this morning to actually see it, and thankfully the damage has not been too much and some measures have been taken to contain the situation before a permanent roofing is put in place. I’m happy to know the consultants and contractors are still around, and they are going to repair the damage. The legislative body is key for this whole country, and it is very important that the duties of parliament are not interrupted,” he said.

“I will brief the President when he arrives about what has taken place, and I’m sure we’ll look at this whole issue of another chamber seriously; but it is very important that the work of parliament continues,” Bawumia added.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, who received Dr. Bawumia, reiterated the need for Parliament to be assisted to get a new Chamber.

Currently, there are some personnel repairing the damage and even applying some interim plastic sheets in order to allow parliamentary sitting today.

Some electronic gadgets installed in the chamber was affected.

There were some renovation works in the Chamber of Parliament in 2014 whilst the House was on recess between July and October. The renovation works took care of infrastructural adjustment, increasing of seats from 230 to 275 to help ease congestion and change worn-out materials.