PHOTOS: New GH¢60 million parliament chairs broken

• Posted on November 6, 2014November 6, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

There was drama in parliament yesterday when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member for Anyaa/Sowutuom, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, had one of the wheels and the steel supporting her new leather chair broken when she sat on it during the proceedings of the House.

As the speaker was conducting business on the floor, the Anyaa/Sowutuom MP tried in vain to draw his (speaker’s) attention to what had happened to her new chair.

“Speaker look at my chair, it is broken,” she repeatedly said as she waved the broken part in the direction of the speaker.

The incident attracted media attention as one other MP also reported that the ‘arm support’ of his new chair also got broken in the course of yesterday’s sitting.

Yesterday’s incident has sparked a series of agitations by some members of parliament, especially the Minority caucus who were saying they would wage a strong campaign in parliament, starting today dubbed, “Bring Back Our Old Chairs Because We Don’t Trust The New Ones”.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the NPP MP for Kwabre East, Kofi Frimpong, said when he came to parliament on Tuesday to see the new chairs, he immediately doubted their quality.

“These new chairs are bogus. They are fragile and not of good quality,” he said, adding that he did not understand why the leadership of the house should go to China to import such fragile chairs when the president is strongly advocating for made in Ghana goods. He added      that samples of the chair should have been brought for testing.

“We don’t want these chairs because apart from their quality, they are also bigger, making movement in the chamber very difficult as compared to the previous ones,” he indicated, stressing that the old chairs which were bought somewhere in 1994, were of higher quality and much more comfortable.

The NPP MP for Atwima Mponua, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, said he had been vindicated for his candid opinion on the renovation and refurbishment of the chamber, saying they were a complete waste of money.
He said the old desks and chairs were far better than the new ones, stressing that if within two days of using the chairs some parts had started breaking, then by sixth months’ time everything would be off.

He therefore called on the leadership of parliament to consider bringing the old chairs back to the chamber and send the new ones to the MPs’ new offices which are yet to be furnished.

The cost of the refurbishment has still not been made public, even though there were rumours that the speaker would disclose it yesterday as some other newspapers continued to quote figures such as $2 million and GH¢16 million as the cost of the reconfiguration and refurbishment of the old chamber.

By Thomas Fosu Jnr