Ghana -The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has renewed calls for Parliament to be housed in a permanent facility, urging the executive to release a land near the State House for the development of a dedicated Parliamentary complex.
Speaking at the launch of Parliament’s Corporate Strategic Plan for 2026–2030 on Thursday, February 12, Mr. Bagbin lamented that Parliament continues to operate as a tenant at the State House, describing the arrangement as limiting and unsuitable for an independent arm of government.
“We have been crying, and I hope you will support us so that at least we should be liberated from being tenants of the State House to our own premises as an arm of government,” he said.
He pointed to infrastructural constraints that, according to him, affect the efficiency of parliamentary work.
“There are a lot of limitations, infrastructural limitations. It has not been easy, even when we are about to make a decision, especially when there is no consensus. You have to rely on the human resources,” he stated.
The Speaker revealed that Parliament is piloting an electronic voting system to improve decision-making processes in the House.
“Now we are trying to put in place where we can have e-voting in Parliament, so we are starting with the pilot, and we believe that it will ease all the struggles when it comes to decision-making in the House,” he said.
Mr Bagbin noted that although efforts had been made to modernise and improve existing facilities, the current infrastructure remains inadequate.
“We have also done a lot in trying to modernise, and improve the small facilities that we have. But we plead with the Executive to release the parcel of land around here for us to develop. We need to have a permanent seat for the pillar of democracy to be housed, a Parliament House,” he said.
He added that some facilities within the State House complex are not readily accessible to Parliament unless payment is made.
“Some of the structures we have here, we cannot even have access to them unless we pay, including the banquet hall,” he noted.
The Speaker emphasised that establishing a permanent Parliamentary complex would strengthen the independence and operational efficiency of the Legislature as a key pillar of Ghana’s democracy.
In 2019, the then NPP government, proposed the construction of a new Parliamentary chamber.
The proposal, however, was met with strong opposition from the Minority in Parliament and civil society organisations, culminating in the widely publicised #DropTheChamber protest.
Amid mounting public pressure, Parliament subsequently suspended plans to proceed with the construction of the new chamber.
