New chamber not completely off the table – Parliamentary Board

The Parliamentary Service Board has indicated the proposed 450-seater new chamber for Ghana’s parliament is not completely off the table.

Deafening public outcry by Ghanaians, including some members of parliament from both sides of the House, forced the board to announce a hold on the decision to construct a new chamber estimated at the cost of 200 million dollars.

The decision to put on hold the controversial project was taken at a crunch meeting Monday by the board.

“The Board, has, upon reviewing representations made by well-meaning Ghanaians, accordingly, taken the development of the new chamber block out of its present agenda,” a statement issued by the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament explained.

While Ghanaians were hoping for a total drop of the new chamber project, part of the statement from the Parliamentary Service Board suggested the project is not entirely off the table.

It said the development of the Parliamentary enclave and a new chamber block and offices “remain an essential and integral part of the future plans of the legislature, in a bid to provide strong, accountable, responsive and transparent parliament to serve the purpose of Parliament”.

This, the #DropThatChamber campaigners, said they are not happy with and will thus go ahead with their planned protest on Saturday.

The #DropThatChamber campaign was initiated on social media to protest the development of the project.

Three of the campaigners were arrested last Friday for allegedly disrupting parliamentary proceedings from the public gallery by shouting ‘drop that chamber’ at a time a member of parliament was making a comment on the project on the floor of the House.

They were later released without charges.