The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has issued a stern warning to Members of Parliament (MPs) to attend sittings regularly or risk losing their seats, declared vacant.
The Speaker’s warning comes as Parliament continues to record very low attendance since the House resumed sitting last week, a situation that has persisted for most of the year.
The Constitution provides that MPs who absent themselves for 15 days without permission from the Speaker will vacate their seats. Since Parliament resumed last week, the House has been recording low numbers just as it has been the whole of this year.
Speaking at the start of proceedings on Wednesday, October 29, the Speaker said he would strictly enforce the constitutional provisions on absenteeism during the current meeting of the House.
He reminded lawmakers of this rule, saying that he would no longer tolerate the poor attendance that has characterised recent sessions.
“It’s for good reason we decided that we’ll sit in the afternoons so that you can take the morning to attend committee meetings, prepare reports and attend to your constituents and that by 2 p.m., you should be ready to sit.”
The Speaker explained that afternoon sittings were meant to allow MPs to engage ministries and public institutions during regular working hours, while evening sessions gave citizens the opportunity to follow parliamentary proceedings.
“In the evenings, people have the opportunity to sit, watch, advise you, and make inputs. That again we are not taking advantage of. I’m saying this for the last time.”
He announced that he had directed the clerks at the table to begin taking detailed attendance records for the current meeting and warned that sanctions would follow if absenteeism continued.
“We have the Standing Orders. We know what they say. We’ll be taking action to ensure that members are compelled to sit or be considered to have vacated their seats.”
Mr Bagbin expressed disappointment at what he described as MPs’ growing disregard for plenary sessions, noting that the attitude was damaging Parliament’s image in the eyes of the public.
“I’m not happy with the way members value plenary sessions,” he said. “You yourselves, those of you who are always here, I see from your faces that you are with me in this matter.”
He revealed that he had already compiled records of attendance from the first and second meetings of the year but had chosen not to publish them.
“I decided, for good reason, not to publish them but to give you the last opportunity. It looks like that was a catastrophic mistake I made. I should have brought it out and referred members to the Privileges Committee.”
