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The 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, has chastised Parliament for importing furniture from China for its Job 600 office complex, saying it undermines the national resolve to promote local businesses.

Responding to the Parliament’s action, he said any contract given to a company abroad eventually boosted the fortunes of such an entity and the economy of a foreign country.

Articulating his concerns, Dr Nduom said Parliament’s decision to import furniture from China had occurred at the time when there was the need to create more jobs for the people.

He said revenue that would have been paid to the state by way of taxes would now be paid to support the economy of another country.

Dr Nduom was of the view that it was time to promote local businesses to grow the economy.

Last week, the Majority Leader, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin, told journalists that the furniture and other fittings for the Job 600 office complex for Members of Parliament (MPs) were procured from China because no local companies could meet the demand.

He explained that local furniture companies did not have the expertise and the equipment to manufacture the kind of furniture required for the complex.

He alleged that when such huge orders were made, the local furniture companies procured furniture from China, put huge profit margins on them and sold them locally.

Mr Bagbin said it was, therefore,  more prudent for Parliament to procure the furniture directly from China, emphasising that "it is cheaper that way".

The move by Parliament has incurred the displeasure of the Woodworkers Association of Ghana (WAG).

The President of the association, Mr Reynolds Afeke Debrah, said the members of the association had the capacity to produce the type of furniture required for the Job 600 office complex.