A Civil Society Organization, Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica) has said to curb the rampant absenteeism of Members of Parliament in the Chamber their constituents can punish the dormant MPs at the polls.
Speaking to Joshua Kodjo Mensah on Starr Today Friday, the Executive Director for PNAfrica, Samuel Obeng disclosed that MPs are accountable to their constituents who they represent in Parliament, therefore can decide on them based on their performance.
According to him, the biggest punishment for an MP or the biggest cracking of whip for an MP is for constituents “to punish them at the polls.”
“When they have seen the record of the attendances, you can say that please we send you to the House to stay through for the four or so hours that Parliament sits. We didn’t send you in there to go stay for two minutes.
“So because the record is showing that often you stay for less than thirty minutes we want to punish you at the polls, these are some of the things that can help,” Mr. Obeng stated.
He, however, pointed out the attendance with the 8th Parliament has been better because of its nature as a hang Parliament.
“I think we have to be fair to this Parliament, attendance for this 8th Parliament has been relatively better especially because it is hanged Parliament. Maybe because it’s a hang Parliament nobody wants surprises. They have done much, much better than previous Parliament our analysis figures has proved same,” he added.
Some MPs have been accused of smuggling their names into the attendance sheets even when they do not show up for work.
On Thursday the house was forced to abandon sitting when Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Murtala Mohammed raised the issue of lack of quorum when only 42 MPs were present.
But the records of proceedings of Thursday reflect 108 MPs were present.
