Executive director of Africa Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEP), Dr Rashid Draman, has revealed that parliament has lost out in addressing issues with absenteeism among members of parliament.

According to him, parliament must necessarily find ways of dealing with such issues permanently. He revealed that due to the sensitive nature of economic conditions in the country, parliament must be more focused in attending to matters of importance to the people who elected them to office.

“The issue of absenteeism, I think parliament has lost it because I have said over and over, we’ve taken an approach which we see over the years, Speaker after Speaker, and eventually we saw in this parliament when a number of MPs were sent to the privileges committee for breaching that provision of their standing orders. But when we sum it up all, it looks like the approach in dealing with this legally has failed and I have said that we might need to rethink this and take a realistic approach…”
Dr Rasheed Draman

Dr Draman noted that punitive measures must be meted out to MPs who absent from parliament without recourse to the House.

With this, he cited some countries in the Scandinavia and other places where legislators are “hit where it hurts most”, whereby they lose some financial entitlements for absenting themselves from parliamentary proceedings without going through the right processes.

Additionally, he explained that with elections around the corner, and until parliament is dissolved, members of parliament have to show up and do their job because they are taking salaries during this period until they are no longer members of parliament.

“I would not imagine a situation where in this parliament, or in any future parliament, where members can come together and say we are expelling our own. So, really, this issue has to be looked at very carefully. I remember this matter of financial sanctions and so on. Some members disagreed with that, and I have had instances where I’ve gotten into discussion with members of parliament for same reasons. But you need to show up and do your job. If you don’t, I think we need to find a way to make sure that some sanctions are meted out. Otherwise, this is only going to get serious.”
Dr Rasheed Draman

Absence of finance minister from budget debate

Commenting on the deferment of budget debate by Speaker, Alban Bagbin, due to the absence of finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, Dr Draman emphasized that the finance minister’s presence is needed.

He noted that although his absence might not be a “big issue”, the country is in abnormal times and currently going through very serious challenges, making his presence vital.

“I would have thought that this is a budget that is supposed to give most of us and our compatriots some relief. If there’s any period in which the minister of finance and his deputies have to be in parliament, this is that period…”
Dr Rasheed Draman

Furthermore, Dr Draman lamented that it is difficult to understand the “difficult circumstances that is taking the minister away”. However, he highlighted that the finance minister didn’t breach any standing orders.

“I would have thought that whatever it is, perhaps some scheduling would have to be done in such a way that the minister is in the house because there is some comparison that has been made. For instance, many years ago when honorable Baah Wiredu was minister for finance, during this period of debate on the budget, he would sit in the House and take notes and respond appropriately. So, I think that’s the context and beyond that, I think yesterday we saw how the House was virtually empty during a period like this – it beats my imagination.”
Dr Rasheed Draman

Going forward, the ACEP executive director underscored that all parliamentarians must follow through with the schedule of budget discussions and timing of the presentation of the budget.

“I believe that the minister and his team were part of selecting this period. So, whatever it is, it’s not a legal argument, it’s more of an argument that is tied to the kind of things in which these circumstances that our country is dealing with at the moment requires we get all the answers and parliament gets all the access, clarifications and so on. I think it’s the minister and his team that can provide these answers.”
Dr Rasheed Draman