Proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday, May 29 started with only 45 Members (MPs) in the House but by close of proceedings, 207 names were captured in the records, Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had said.
He was not exactly enthused with the habitual absenteeism and has urged members to make it a point to always be present for the business of the House.
The Majority Leader was confirming concerns raised by the First Ddeputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, who described as “embarrassing” the act where Members of Parliament come in to sign and go back without taking part in parliamentary duties in the chamber.
According to Mr Osei Owusu, when MPs didn’t have offices, they would come early, sit at the coffee shop and wait for proceedings to begin.
He observed that since they were provided offices, they come in to sign and go back to sit in their offices.
‘Becoming unbecoming’
The First Deputy Speaker was reacting to concerns raised MP for Lambussie Karni Constituency, Edward Dery, that the number of members in the chamber on Wednesday, May 30, was not up to one-third.
Mr. Dery said MPs’ absenteeism is “becoming unbecoming” and urged the Speaker to do something about it as they will not continue to tolerate it.
Mr Osei Owusu, who is also MP for Bekwai Constituency, was worried most MPs are breaching the Constitution and the legislature’s Standing Orders, especially Standing Order 16 with impunity.
That particular Order requires that “a member shall not absent himself during a meeting for more than 15 sittings without the permission in writing of the Speaker. Any member infringing this order shall have his conduct referred to the Privileges Committee”.
He urged them to change their attitude towards work as they may not be happy if action is taken against them.
In his contribution, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said the continuous absenteeism undermines public confidence in MPs.
He, therefore, urged members to be punctual to enable them transact b
Source: 3news
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If MPs themselves can behave this way, i.e., "come in to sign and go back without taking part in parliamentary duties in the chamber", then I wonder how they expect the ordinary Ghanaian worker to behave. This act of the MPs confirm my long held belief that the deep seated indiscipline in the country starts at the top.
the parliament house is over staff with mps doing nothing. we need to look at the constitution again. this is a complete waste of resources
I will like to plead with the parliamentarians to take parliamentary business serious. Because, we the electorates who voted them into the parliament are watching and will decide what to do on the election day.
Most of them are Ministers. We have to change the constitution
Ánd we are 'honourables' Hmmmm
our MPs must be people of integrity and show committment to the cause fo Ghana. what they are doing is irresponsible. they are unworthy of the 'honourable' title
Do we need that number at all? And isn't it clear that many of them go to parliament for the money? Election time the same lazy MPs will do anything to get elected. They will lie, malign others, incite the youth to violence, beg people they have wronged, attend funerals they otherwise will not attend. If someone says we are a SH country, we are up in arms after the person's blood.
How can I have confidence in an MP who can take double salary for years? Tweaaaaa...The public confidence is long gone..... Our MPs are just waiting our resources. We must cut down their number to 150......
and in the end they will go take double salaries. as for these npp mps they shd not worry. the majority we gave them is giving them swelling heads. they shd continue going abt lobbying for contracts at the expense of parliamentary work. as for the minority ndc i dont blame them bcos they are ineffective even when they had majority. so them not going to hse is even a blessing to mother Ghana.
Just waste public resource ,number must be cut down to 100 and additional 20 from professional bodies engineers,farmers ,teachers , doctors, civil servants , allied health ,transport ,retired igp,retired military, banker ,telecom,ict,retired ceps, accountant , actural etc.