Citing the ongoing brouhaha over plans to construct the new \nParliamentary Chamber, he said the manner and way in which Ghanaians, \nfrom all political divides, had risen against it demonstrated that the \npeople would not sit down and allow Parliament to implement programmes \nthat did not benefit them in any way. The acting National Chairman of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Mr John Amekah, has lauded the boldness of Ghanaians for demanding accountability from the country\u2019s political leaders. Citing the ongoing brouhaha over plans to construct the new Parliamentary Chamber, he said the manner and way in which Ghanaians, from all political divides, had risen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,43],"tags":[10387,7489,10351,2884,192,4521,12502,5328,5910,7806,5612,8553,2402,1198,5646,5349,5470,8869,3954,594],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-local-news","tag-campaign","tag-chairman","tag-david-adjaye","tag-demonstration","tag-ghana","tag-ghanaian","tag-ghanaians","tag-hospitals","tag-initiative","tag-model","tag-money","tag-mosque","tag-mps","tag-parliament","tag-priority","tag-social-media","tag-space","tag-water","tag-will","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cThis new spirit from \nGhanaians deserves commendation. Parliament cannot just sit down and \ntake decisions that will bring comfort to them while the people continue\n to lack the basic necessities of life such as good hospitals and \npotable water,\u201d Mr Amekah said in a chat with the Daily Graphic.
Background<\/strong>
There\n is a growing rage in both the traditional and social media over a \ndecision by Parliament to construct a new chamber aimed at creating more\n space and comfort for lawmakers.
The new 450-seater capacity \nchamber, when built, will have a chapel, a mosque, an eatery and \ngardens. The current chamber being used by the 275 MPs, according to Sir\n David Adjaye who designed the new chamber, will be converted into a \nconference centre.
The Parliamentary Service Board has already received the architectural model for the new chamber.
Since the news hit the media space, Ghanaians have expressed concerns and kicked against it.
Whereas\n some Ghanaians described the move as a misplaced priority, other said \nthey were shocked that Parliament would spend $200 million for a new \nchamber rather than channelling that money into addressing the \ndevelopment challenges in their various communities and constituencies.
To\n register their displeasure, a new campaign with the hashtag \n#DropthatChamber# has been launched on social media with some groups \nplanning to embark on a demonstration to kick against the new chamber.
Parliament decision<\/strong>
In\n his view, Mr Amekah said instead of Parliament to focus on using their \npower to support any initiative that would further create comfort for \nthem, they must rather take decisions on issues that would benefit the \nordinary Ghanaian.
Already, he said, the seat of parliamentarians\n \u201cis seen as a comfort and luxury because they are in a better position \nthan many Ghanaians if not all, so why further spend more money to \nenlarge it\u201d?
Mr Amekah said the time had come where Ghanaians \nwould not sit down and allow the people they voted into power to take \nthem for a ride, indicating that the media campaign against the new \nchamber was good because it would force the leaders to do the right \nthing.
\u201cThe LPG is in support of Ghanaians and will, therefore, not support any new chamber for Parliament,\u201d he added<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"