Gov’t advised to construct parliamentary village for MPs

Mr Emmanuel Asamoah, Executive Secretary of Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), on Tuesday said the association was ready to construct a Parliamentary Village on government lands to solve accommodation problems facing members of Parliament (MPs).

He said the proposed GH?50,000.00 rent advance being sought for MPs could have been put together to build high rise two or three bed-room apartments to serve as duty posts for MPs.

Mr Asamaoh, who was speaking at the official out-dooring of CeDI- Africa, a civil society organisation in Accra, urged government to collaborate with GREDA for such ventures as the association had the capacity to develop the MPs village.

GREDA asked Parliament and the Government to take the initiative to solve the housing problem of MPs stressing that government would have to provide water, electricity and proper institutions to manage the property.

The CeDI-Africa is committed to research, education and advocacy to broaden peoples’ participation in African democracy.

It also aims at creating a platform for the advancement of the ideals of a fair and just African society where citizens have equal rights to freedom, dignity, and opportunity.

Mr Asamoah said maintenance of the parliamentary village could be surcharged to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure regular maintenance.

Mr Bernard Ohemeng-Baah, Founder of CeDi-Africa, used the occasion to launch the “Citizen Alert Forum,” a public engagement platform aimed at creating avenue for citizens irrespective of their social status to input into the governance in Ghana.

He said: "People toiled and secured this land with their blood and others fought at great cost to secure our rights and liberties; we owe it to posterity to leave Ghana and the world better than we found it”.

Mr Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu, Human Rights and Public Interest Lawyer, said the payment of huge rent advances to MPs had come to add up to the many social inequities in the country.

He said those huge payments were a breach of the trust reposed in the parliamentarians and could not be justified.

“They are elected to protect the interest of their constituents, but by those advances they sin against the very principles of services and representation of the constituents’ interests they stand for,” he added.