Ken Ofori-Atta
Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta says the construction of constituency offices for the 275 Members of Parliament (MPs) will begin next year.
According to him, 10 Parliamentary Resource Centres are also to be established in 10 districts of the country, adding that 2022 will again be used to upgrade ICT facilities in the debating chamber and committee meeting rooms of Parliament to improve the quality of video.
Presenting the 2022 budget statement in Parliament last week, Mr. Ofori-Atta said the consoles in Parliament will also be replaced to improve feed for live broadcast of proceedings.
He disclosed that the Parliamentary Service Office Support Project (PSOSP), which is now 45% complete, would be fully completed in 2022.
“Other projects at various stages of completion are: the e-Parliament project; Phase II of the Table Office MIS; the Data Centre; and the operationalisation of the Budget and Fiscal Analysis Office,” he stated.
The minister said Parliament of Ghana would host the Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association International in 2022 and a Planning Committee had been put together to commence the planning and organisation of the event.
“In 2022, Parliament will continue to discharge its constitutional obligation in the areas of: passing the required legislation to support policy implementation; exercising financial control to improve accountability of state resources; overseeing implementation of public programmes and projects; reviewing and approving loans and other international business transactions to support implementation of critical national projects; and exercising effective representation of the people,” he stressed.
He added that Parliament would commence the implementation of the new Standing Orders which is expected to come into force during the year, pointing out “the new Orders will create new Committees, including a Budget Committee, a Committee on Economic Planning and a Committee on Public Services.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu