The Speaker of Parliament Mr Peter Ala Adjetey has cautioned that attempts by some sections of the society to mock or downgrade the institution of Parliament poses a great danger to the development of democracy in the country.

He says without Parliament, there could be no democracy and called the enlightened members of society to educate the mass of the citizenry on the essence of democracy.

The institution of parliament has been criticized heavily in the year drawing to a close after their sittings were dogged by poor attendances. The Speaker's own 15,000 dollar two-week holiday to Ireland at the expense of the State also led to more criticism of the House and its relevance to the nation.

The Speaker has however held firm and has used almost every platform to repel the accusations. The Speaker has also bemoaned the absence of adequate office facilities for members of the house.

But that could be drawing to a close after the Speaker cut the sod for work on an 18 billion cedis two-storey office complex for parliament on Tuesday.

The Speaker noted that the situation where MPs struggled to perform their duties was a disincentive to the development of an efficient parliament.

The Job 600 project at the State House in Accra, which was suposed to provide office accommodation for the house, has stalled hence parliament's decision to start the two-storey block.