Coffee Chair Scandal Rocks Parliament

When law makers pass laws on pronouncement, it is expected that they would be the first to obey it, but right under the nose of the August House, The Enquirer has picked disturbing details of a procurement scandal involving the supply of some exotic chairs and tables.

Credible information has it that leadership of Parliament woke up one day to see the strong furniture used by committee meetings replaced with large quantities of chairs only fit for coffee shops.

Even though the Public Procurement Law was the brainchild of the Third Parliament of the Fourth Republic, the Parliamentary Service Board cannot tell how the chairs got into the August House as the contract was not placed on public tender.

The solid wood furniture very suitable for the work of Members of Parliament, as well as for the visitors lobby, has just disappeared into thin air.

Already, the new chairs are breaking down at a very rapid rate, to an extent that a notice has been placed on the tables directing its users including the MPs on how to sit on the chairs. Some governing NPP MPs said that the new chairs will not help their job, since the tables going with the chairs are only suitable for drinking or a coffee shop.

Another MP from the opposition NDC, who also wishes to remain anonymous, said that because committee meetings involve large numbers, the chairs will not serve the desired purpose.

“A lot of time, we have outsiders joining us at such meetings, depending upon which committee is involved; there are times we record more than 30 people attending, and these chairs are just not what we needed”, one law maker said.

Some staff of Parliament at both senior and junior levels who spoke on the story expressed their disappointment at the removal of the old furniture. The Enquirer has also gathered that due process was not followed in procuring the chairs.

According to a close source at the corridors of Parliament, if there must be the need for the replacement of the chairs, which were still in very good conditions, that must be articulated at the meeting of the Parliamentary Service Board.

The Board will then refer the matter to the tender committee, and after going through the proposal, the committee has to identify sources of funding, if there was no budget. The Clerk of Parliament is then asked to put up notices for tender, after which he reports back to the Board as to which company should be offered the job.

In the case of the chairs most appropriate for ‘Coffee Shop’, all processes were ignored to suit the whims and caprices of a “big man” somewhere.