Parliamentarians in a row over absenteeism

Accra, Feb. 3, GNA - There were exchanges in Parliament on Tuesday on how absenteeism should be captured in the "Votes and Proceedings".

The protagonists were the Speaker Mr Peter Ala Adjetey and Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Minister of the Interior and Member for New Juaben North. The Speaker had ruled: "Anyone absent from the floor of the House whether with permission or without permission, should be marked absent out-rightly, but those who undertake business on behalf of the House outside Parliament should be marked absent with permission."

The Speaker's ruling was necessitated by a request from the Majority Leader, Felix Owusu-Adjapong for the Speaker to advise on whether persons doing business on behalf of the House outside Parliament should be marked absent or present.

Apparently, members of the Energy Committee, of which the Majority Leader is a member, had obtained permission from the Leadership of the House, without the Speaker's knowledge, and had gone to Dodowa to discuss issues of Parliamentary concern.

The Speaker pointed out that the Leadership of the House had their responsibilities, but it was not one of their responsibilities to grant such permission, adding that constitutionally such permission should have been granted by the Speaker or by one of his two deputies.

Mr Owusu-Agyeman suggested that it would be unfair to mark those undertaking business on behalf of the House outside Parliament absent with permission, adding: "Such instances could be captured as 'On Parliamentary Business' instead of out-right absent with permission."

He explained that the public was watching Parliamentarians and would wrongly judge even those marked absent with permission as persons, who do not participate in the activities of Parliament, when in fact a more considerate rendition of the fact as "On Parliamentary Business" would make the public to know that such persons were really working for Parliament.

At this point, The Speaker raised his voice and took an entrenched position, saying: "Well that is your opinion, you can hold on to it, but I disagree with you and I still hold the opinion that those who are not physically present in the House, for whatever reason should be marked absent and at best, 'Absent With Permission'."

The Speaker noted that his ruling was in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House and The Constitution, adding that until the Standing Orders and The Constitution were amended, anyone not physically present in the House, would be marked absent.

"No one can force me into allowing persons not present on the floor of the House to be marked present just for the reason that they are performing a duty on behalf of the House outside the premises of Parliament," he said.

"I have no interest in how you want us to capture such instance, as long as you amend The Constitution and the Standing Orders to reflect what you are suggesting. But as far as I am concerned, my conscience will not allow me to mark someone present when he is physically absent from the House for whatever reason."

Mr Ala Adjetey said when a committee had meeting outside Parliament, its Chairman must obtain due permission from the Speaker for those members needed for the meeting and it was only those who attend the committee meeting who should be marked absent with permission. "Those who absent themselves from the House under the guise of committee meetings just to go and do their personal business, must be marked absent," he said.

Mr Owusu-Agyeman interrupted the Speaker again and said: "Right honourable Speaker, no one is taking your constitutional powers from you. But what we are suggesting is that it takes a long time to amend Standing Orders and Constitution, but in the mean time, being masters of our own proceedings, we could have a better way of capturing such special instances in order to be fair to ourselves."

The Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin called for a second look at the Standing Order, saying that since Parliament was constrained, without committee rooms, it was inevitable for committees to sometime meet outside the premises of Parliament.

"If we adopt the ruling that persons in such committees should be marked absent although they are working on behalf of the House outside the premises of Parliament, then what we are suggesting is that committee meeting should be held on the floor of the House in order that members of such committees would not risk being marked absent," he said. Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC- Ketu North, said the issue of how to capture absenteeism could not be resolved at a go so the House must move and have a better time to discuss the matter.