Minority MPs 'fight' Bagbin over ruling on attendance to Parliament
Majority insists it had quorum to pass E-levy
Former Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Inusah Fuseini, has opined that the recent ruling of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on attendance to Parliament might be problematic in its implementation.
Giving an analogy of schooling and marking of attendance register, Mr. Fuseini stressed that every institution is regulated by formal rules to determine who is present and who is absent.
He explained that if it happens that a person is in school but is not marked present for any reason, it will be assumed that the person was absent.
Mr. Fuseini detailed that Bagbin’s ruling will be difficult to implement as a result of the alleged presence of the chieftaincy minister, Kojo Kum, who was reported to have been in an ambulance outside Parliament even though no one saw him.
He suggestively questioned if the minister would have also been marked present.
“The Standing Orders constitute Speaker Bagbin as the sole interpreter of the Orders but on this occasion, his interpretation of 'present' in Parliament meaning presence on the precincts of Parliament might be problematic because you can go to school…if you don’t have your name in the register, you are marked absent.
"But you might be seen loitering about the school premises, (yet) you will be marked absent. Everywhere, there are formal rules to determine who’s present and who is absent” he said in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM.
Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, at a recent sitting ruled that MPs can be marked as present in Parliament provided they are within its precincts.
He argued that constitutional provisions on MPs’ attendance were attendance to Parliament not to the floor of the House.
“Honorable Members, attendance of members is to Parliament not the floor or the Chamber of Parliament. The Law Lords who ruled earlier on…most of this ruling are happening because of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court and that is a good reason why I asked for a review.
“The work of a Member of Parliament in Parliament is not restricted to the floor of the chamber. Much of the work of Parliament is done at the committee level and that is why when it comes to the time of voting, the bell is rang for 10 minutes so that at the committee meetings, members can leave the committee meeting and come and vote.
“You can be on the floor, you can visit the washroom, you can go and attend to your constituents, you are in Parliament. Being in Parliament means being in the precincts of Parliament,” Alban Bagbin ruled.
