took evidence.
Mr. Speaker, the Judiciary Committee also travelled the whole length and breadth of this country. Mr. Speaker, many of the committees of Parliament are made up of a minimum of fifteen Members of the House plus secretarial staff, the clerks - and then drivers. When they go to one particular place there is the need to attend to their hotel accommodation, their feeding, et cetera. Mr. Speaker, it is not a joke at all; huge sums of money are involved.
Mr. Speaker, without this, you just cannot make the law and if our constituents who voted for us and brought us here expect us to do proper work, then we must be empowered to do the work properly. Mr. Speaker, if you expect me to travel all over the country, definitely you are not saying that when I get to a place - for instance, one goes to Sekondi, one has never been there; one is there only because a committee is at work, definitely one must be in a hotel. Mr. Speaker, which hotel are we going to sleep in there?
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to note that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning is himself a Member of Parliament who goes through these rigours that we go through similarly. Mr. Speaker, I expect him to appreciate the nature and seriousness of the work of Parliament, the intricacies involved, the competitiveness involved so that they would resource us properly.
Mr. Speaker, it is very sad that when the House is Sitting and you just go out of the Chamber, you see committee members sitting in the Lobby holding meetings and you see visitors criss-crossing and eavesdropping. Mr. Speaker, for the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana to do business in such a manner is just disturbing.
Again, I am happy to note that the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, himself a Parliamentarian, has been sitting in such committees and enduring the hardships and inconve- niences involved. All that it means is that funds should be made available so that we finish the office complex that is being built.
Again, Mr. Speaker, you come to this House as a Member of Parliament and then if you get a visitor, there is nowhere you can receive the visitor in privacy. In fact, Mr. Speaker, as we are Sitting right now, if it were to be possible for Mr. Speaker to look through this door and to see what is happening outside, he would find a very incongruous situation where hon. Members of Parliament are talking to their constituents standing in the corridors and transacting business.
For the highest office in Ghana where we make laws, Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable. The only solution is for the Ministry of Works and Housing to quickly finish the Tower Block so that every Member of Parliament will have an office with a secretary so that our visitors can go there, wait for us in the comfort of the office and then we meet them and do business in a more congenial manner.
Mr. Speaker, if I should be mentioning all the rigours and the difficulties that we go through, I am sure I will not end because my hon. Colleagues appreciate the problems we go through.
So on this note, I will call on my hon. Colleagues - Small as the budget is, I do hope that in the course of the year, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning will not say that because of X, Y, Z reasons they are reducing the amount of money meant for Parliament. Whatever the situation is, at least, Parliament must be resourced.
I have even noticed in the Committee's Report that the Speaker of Parliament has not got an official residence. So I begin to wonder where Mr. Speaker is staying right now - whether he is in a hotel or in a friend's house or whatever. And Mr. Speaker, it is very embarrassing. An hon. Colleague is signalling me that perhaps, Mr. Speaker is hanging - [Laughter.] Perhaps, I am not sure Mr. Speaker is hanging.