Parliament Needs New Chamber to Improve Lawmakers’ Effectiveness-- Clerk to Parliament

The Clerk to Parliament of Ghana, Rev. Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, has said Ghana’s Parliament needs a new chamber with complementing facilities to enable Members of Parliament to discharge their duties properly.

Speaking on the challenges facing the legislature, Rev. Djietror said developing countries are making progress, but Ghana’s Parliament still lacks adequate space and facilities.

He said Parliament should have enough work space, meeting areas, division rooms, ministers’ lobbies and caucus lobbies so that when there are issues, a caucus will not necessarily have to file out and travel all the way to Job 600.

According to him, even the space at Job 600 to meet is a challenge, because the meeting rooms there cannot sit more than 30 or 35 people.

"So if you have a caucus, a caucus of 100 members, necessarily what we are saying is that some should not attend because if all of them attend then there will be a problem unless they decide some of them decide to do virtual," he said.

He questioned where the Majority Caucus would have space to meet at Job 600, yet MPs are supposed to meet as a caucus.

"It is part of the rules of engagement in all advanced democracies, caucuses meet, discuss issues," he said.

Rev. Djietror added that MPs would also want to meet special committees and sometimes meet the whole House, not necessarily in the chamber.

"Where are you going to do that business?" he asked.

He said this has been the lot of Ghana’s Parliament all these years.

He noted that very soon Parliament will start budget hearings, and committees are under obligation to summon Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to come with all their agencies so that thorough scrutiny can be done.

He explained that assuming an agency decides to produce just four people, the space challenge becomes even more evident, underscoring the urgent need for a new, fit-for-purpose Parliamentary chamber and supporting facilities.