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China analyst and lecturer at Asheshi University College, Professor Llyod Amoah, believes �Parliament has made a gross mistake� by resorting to foreign partners for the production of chairs for Parliament. To him, the august body should have known better when it imported furniture from China serves the House serves as the country's law-making body. �In an economy that is �stagnating,� the choice of China is a huge mistake. The message that we are sending to our local people is that we don�t believe in their capacity when it matters most,� he said, adding that �the Parliament for our republic has deep symbolic value for our people for the processes of our governance for the arts of our state craft and in many ways because it makes the laws for our country.� He was speaking on Citi Fm�s news analysis programme, The Big Issue. Parliament has come under intense criticism for importing luxurious furniture from China to stock its Chamber. Though the amount involved is not yet known, the issue has provoked a number of Ghanaians and opinion leaders who are accusing Parliament of not adhering to the president�s directive of patronizing made in Ghana products. Prof. Amoah insisted that because Members of Parliament are drawn from all the constituencies in the country �the symbols in there [Parliament] must reflect the Ghanaian spirit, the Ghanaian capacity to rise, the Ghanaian vision to be an economy and a country which in many ways largely depends on itself�so the choice of China is a huge symbolic mistake.� He said �going to China is not the problem per se� but argued that �the message that we are sending to our local entrepreneurs the business people is that we do not believe in their capacity when it matters most.� Prof Amoah explained that, for a country �which is stagnating� there was the need to give the contract to a local company. For his part, the Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe said Parliament�s decision �is an economic injustice that was done.� Meanwhile, the leadership of Parliament has explained the rationale behind importing the furniture from China saying that the move was to save time because it was impossible for a local company to produce the over 300 furniture pieces within a limited time.