Demolition of old parliament House necessary – Kyei Mensah

The Parliamentary affairs minister, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, has defended the demolition of the old Parliament House in Accra.

The over 50-year-old structure housed the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice as well as the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).

The building which was gutted by fire in 2013 is now being pulled down in order to be re-constructed. This has angered many Ghanaians, but Mr. Kyei Mensah Bonsu told journalists in Accra that rehabilitating the old structure wouldn’t have been prudent.

“Sometimes if you want to do a rehabilitation of a structure that has been gutted by fire; the integrity of this structure might have suffered tremendously you don’t go about reinforcing the existing structure, it’s better you pull it down.

“I guess that might have informed the decision to pull it down and re-erect a new structure to replace it. I want to suggest to you that it will be difficult for this structure to go beyond the next 25-30 years because additional load has been added…its taking more people than it was originally designed to”.