Parliament New Gadgets Go Off

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Created on Friday, 07 November 2014 00:00

Parliament New Gadgets Go Off

The newly-installed ICT electronic gadgets and microphones in Ghana’s reconfigured parliament, ceased to work shortly after the Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, had started with the correction of ‘Votes and Proceedings’ in the House yesterday.

The development created anxiety amongst the MPs, especially the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, who started shouting “China, China, China” and “Ni Hao, Ni Hao.”

The speaker was seen continuously trying to restart his ‘machine’ but it would not just function.

It took some time before the ‘defect’ was corrected for proceedings to continue.

After the sitting, some MPs continued to express worry over the quality of the machines installed and whether they would be long-lasting.

Attendance at yesterday’s sitting was not very encouraging and therefore proceedings were adjourned to today. It was not clear whether it was because of the emergency Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit taking place in Accra.

The Minister of Roads and Highways is expected to appear in the house today to answer questions to be posed by the NPP MPs for Atwima Kwanwoma, Tema East and Nsuta-Kwamang-Beposo, Dr Kojo Appiah-Kubi, Daniel Titus-Glover and Kwame Asafu-Adjei respectively, as well as National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Amenfi Central, George Arthur, relating to roads in their various constituencies.

On Wednesday, one of the newly acquired seats in the house broke when MP for Anyaa/Sowutuom, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, sat on it.

One of the wheels and its steel supporting the new leather chair broke during proceedings.

The incident sparked a series of agitations by some MPs, especially the minority members who said they would wage a strong campaign dubbed, “Bring Back Our Old Chairs Because We Don’t Trust The New Ones.” MP for Kwabre East, Kofi Frimpong, said when he came to parliament on Tuesday and saw 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 parliament should go to China to import such fragile chairs when President Mahama has strongly been advocating for ‘made in Ghana goods.

MP for Lower West Akim, Gifty Klenam, threatened to go for her old chair if parliament did not take steps to replace the China furniture.

Comparing the new chairs to the old ones, she said “The old ones are more comfortable but the new ones are not; they shake when sitting on it. It is even difficult to see the person in front of you because of how high they are … you need to stretch your neck to see what is in front of you.”

She made it clear that she could not afford to fall off her seat and stressed, “I will go for my old chair.”

Source: Daily Guide