"They're Not Serious": Former Minister Urges Constituents To Vote Out Absentee MPs
- Kwadwo Agyei Darko, former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has urged Ghanaians to vote out truant MPs
- The former minister said the rampant absenteeism of MPs from parliament was a matter of grave concern and should be addressed
- He said truant MPs should be voted out in the 2024 parliamentary elections by constituents as punishment
Kwadwo Agyei Darko, a former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has urged Ghanaians to punish absentee members of parliament in the upcoming parliamentary polls.
Speaking in an interview with Adom News, Agyei Darko, who served under the erstwhile Kufuor administration, said the rampant absenteeism of MPs from parliament was a matter of grave concern.
Source: Facebook
He stated that the practice undermined democratic practices in the country and adversely affected government business.
He said constituents should punish their MPs who absent themselves from parliament by voting them out, as their absence was inimical to the representative role they were elected to play in the chamber.
Agyei Darko’s comments follow Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Bagbin adjourning proceedings in parliament on July 15, 2024, after MPs failed to attend the sitting—there were only 24 MPs present in parliament.
The incident was not the first time it had happened, as the speaker has had to adjourn several sittings in the past due to a lack of quorum.
Agyei Darko called on constituents to hold their members of parliament accountable and assess their performance before giving them the nod or otherwise. He added that the current batch of MPs lacks seriousness and should be dealt with by constituents.
He further urged Ghanaians to take an active role in the nation’s politics and be concerned about the activities of their elected representatives in parliament.
Alban Bagbin refers MPs to Privileges Committee over absenteeism
Speaker Alban Bagbin, on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, referred Dome Kwabenya MP Sarah Adwoa Safo and two others to Parliament's Privileges Committee for absenting themselves from parliament.
Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong and Ayawaso Central MP Henry Quartey complete the list of three governing NPP MPs referred to the committee.
The absence of the MPs from Parliament violates the Standing Orders, which stipulates that MPs must not absent themselves from parliamentary sittings for 15 days consistently without being permitted to do so.
Adwoa Safo alleges she’s being witch-hunted
YEN.com.gh reported that Adwoa Safo accused unnamed people in the governing NPP and in parliament of a political witch-hunt.
She said there appeared to be a deliberate attempt to make her look bad in the eyes of the public as she took care of a family emergency in the US.
The MP was absent from parliament for more than six months, breaking parliamentary rules on absenteeism.
Proofread by Edwina N.K Quarcoo, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
