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Proposed 450-seat Parliament chamber is 'stupid' idea - Kofi Bentil

The Vice President of policy think tank Imani Ghana, Kofi Bentil has taken a swipe at the proposed new chamber for parliamentarians.

Kofi Bentil

He is the project that will accommodate four hundred and fifty parliamentarians is a 'stupid' idea.

In a series of post on Facebook, Kofi Bentil chastised the government for the idea and suggested that the money can be used for other purposes.

In one of the posts, Mr Bentil said: “It would be perfectly fine to vote out every MP and the whole government if they even approve this stupid idea of a new chamber”.

In another post, he said building a new chamber should not be a priority but rather amending Ghana’s Constitution to cap “the number of MPs to 100”.

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The Parliamentary Service Board has already received the architectural model for the new chamber from renowned Ghanaian architect David Frank Adjaye, the same designer of the National Cathedral.

He walked the leaders of the house and the MPs through the new design at a meeting on Friday, 28 June 2019.

“We've been given the direction to prepare to start sometime this year. If we are able to start this year, it can be completed within the next three years”, Mr Adjaye said, adding: “We're removing the Parliamentary chamber to a new chamber and refurbishing the old parliament to be another conference facility for parliament”

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“We are going to put all the car parks you see, under the parliament for security”, he explained to the media. “The parliamentarians can drive into a secure zone and rise up directly into the chamber,” he said.

“This will allow the Job 600 building to perform better. Where the car parks are will be turned into gardens which will be able to receive people on occasions.”

The chamber will come with a chapel, mosque, restaurant, and a museum.

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