The national chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddie Blay has admitted that absenteeism in Parliament is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with.
However, he indicated that no matter how grave the problem is, it is not peculiar to Ghana, adding that he finds it “bizarre” that the Speaker of Parliament had to rely on petitions from outside the House to refer some truant MPs to the privileges committee.
“I find it a little bizarre; let me first say so. Absenteeism from Parliament itself is a serious problem, but it is not peculiar to Ghana. It’s typical of all parliaments and several jurisdictions in the world, a lot depends on what you want to do with that. Variably, you admonish parliamentarians, you advise them and therefore, you allow the caucuses to whip their membership so that they’ll be up and coming to their duties as representatives of their constituents,” the former First Deputy Speaker of Parliament said on Asaase Radio’s The Big Bulletin with Beatrice Adu.
“Definitely, the Speaker is not a headmaster who is marking the register. If it comes to his notice through his clerk… I find it a little bit strange that somebody from outside; so to speak, will come and petition.”
“Absenteeism is a headache in Parliament, to deal with it is not to one day stand up and say I’m picking on board; let the parliamentarians themselves agree that this is what we want to do now, ‘from now onwards, Mr Speaker, if anybody is 15 days out of Parliament without permission from me as a speaker, I’ll refer them in accordance with the rules to the privileges committee’.
“But in this case that I’m being told, that somebody else from outside is drawing the attention of the Speaker. But even then, if that is brought, it must be at the plenary. It should be discussed at the plenary before you refer the matter to privileges. I think he’s [Speaker] surrendering his discretion to outsiders,” Blay said on Wednesday (6 April).
