Speaker expresses worry at poor attendance
The speaker of parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, yesterday expressed worry at the poor attendance of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House to transact business.
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He said both the Majority and the Minority in Parliament were guilty of poor attendance as they had left Parliament for political campaigns in their respective constituencies ahead of the December 7 elections.
"Both sides of the House are guilty. If you look at both sides, it is unfortunate," he said.
Mr Adjaho said the MPs were supposed to come to Parliament to do business and indicated that if an MP had done his homework well, spending the remaining eight sitting days in Parliament could not thwart his chances of retaining his seat.
Consequently, he asked the leadership of Parliament to devise ways to improve upon attendance for the MPs to conduct some important businesses before they rise within the next eight sitting days.
Following the request, the leadership of the House, who shared a similar sentiment, indicated they would have a meeting (to be attended by members from the majority and minority sides) to discuss how to improve upon attendance.
One of the suggestions proposed by the Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, was for MPs to be divided into groups. And through a system of rotation, one group of MPs would come to Parliament and the other group would go to campaign.
The issue of poor attendance during election periods was first raised by the MP for Nabdam, Mr Boniface Gambila Adagbila, who wanted to know the measures that the leadership of the House would take to avert such developments in the next Parliament.
There were only about 50 MPs in Parliament on Friday out of the total 275 MPs.
Majority leader
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, said it was difficult for the MPs to balance political campaigning in their respective constituencies and the work in Parliament.
He said during elections, the focus of many MPs shifted to their respective constituencies.
Mr Bagbin said after the meeting, a statement would be issued to impress upon the MPs to be present in the House.
He said when necessary MPs would extend their sittings.
