Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Professor Stephen Adei has said the estimated $200 million cost of the botched 450-seat parliamentary chamber is not expensive.

The Former rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) indicated that for someone who has been building, the cost is a cheap one.

He however noted that the timing for the proposed project was bad and not a priority for the nation.

In an interview on ClassFM, Prof. Adei said: “I think that that cost of the building, and I’m saying as someone who has been building, it is not that expensive but it is wrong at this time in terms of national priorities and the needs of this nation”,

“To say we’ve given you this place to meet and you’re going to spend about a quarter of a billion dollars when we cannot do roads, it shows a sense of insensitivity and I think the reaction of the media, even the rude one, is a good message to our politicians that Ghanaians will not tolerate them…” he added.

According to him, “In leadership, you should be a model in how you behave; they got it wrong and their fingers have been burnt badly. For me, I never talked about it because I was expecting this backlash and if journalists and the bad boys are going to do this backlash, we’ll just watch it and see because the politicians must learn through the hard way and I think they’ve withdrawn it and must be withdrawn for decades because when they bring it back, they will see what the people will do to them”.

Parliament had to eventually suspend its plan to build the new structure after an avalanche of public furore.

Social media – Facebook and Twitter – were awash with harsh criticism against the Ghanaian parliament and its leadership over the matter.

Some lawmakers, especially from the Minority side, like the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; Ras Mubarak, MP for Kumbungu; and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini, have described the move as needless.