Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has directed the health directorate in Parliament to disinfect the entire Parliament House before, sitting on Thursday, 19th March, 2020.
He asked authority in charge of safety in the House to ensure that, the fumigation is carried out in the Chamber, the Press and Public Galleries, all departments and offices attached to the Chamber and all other structures including footpaths within The State House.
He also called for rearrangement of seats in the Chamber to create more space between MPs to reduce personal contact.
According to the Speaker, “the World Health Organisation (WHO) has given directives to ensure enough spacing not less than two metres distance between people in order to reduce the risk for contracting the coronavirus but many members of Parliament are not adhering to it.”
He therefore, directed for better sitting arrangement in the chamber to reduce the risk.
The Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, seconded the directive and indicated that, “currently, Parliaments around the World are going on recess due to the unfortunate pandemic disease”.
He drew attention to the ongoing registration exercise of the National Identification Authority in violation of the President’s directive to contain Covid-19.
The majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu used the opportunity to sound a word of caution to some unidentified persons who are taking an undue advantage to steal the sanitisers that have been provided at vantage points in and around Parliament for use in order to reduce the risk of catching the coronavirus.
The leader urged the Marshall to make sure all security cameras are fixed to help in monitoring, and “if anyone is caught stealing the sanitiser or anything from Parliament, the person would be dealt with accordingly”.
Story filed by Edzorna Francis Mensah.
