Committee chairs blamed for low attendance in parliament– Dafeamekpor
The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has criticised Committee Chairpersons for contributing to the persistent low attendance of Members of Parliament (MPs) during plenary sessions.
According to him, certain chairpersons intentionally schedule committee meetings during plenary sittings, making it difficult for the House to meet its quorum and conduct business effectively.
His comments follow the release of a parliamentary attendance report, which revealed that several MPs missed sittings, some for more than 20 days without official permission during the first session of 2025.
Addressing the issue on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Dafeamekpor expressed frustration that repeated appeals for committees to meet in the mornings have largely been ignored.
“The records will bear me out that I drew the attention of the leadership of the committees to this matter. Mr. Speaker, we have discovered that some leaders of committees are arranging committee business in the afternoon when we have all agreed that committee business should be arranged in the morning, so that at 2 p.m. we will be ready to conduct business in the House,” he said.
He further pointed out that the day’s Order Paper listed several committee meetings scheduled for the afternoon which is a direct breach of prior agreements.
“Today’s Order Paper shows that there are advertised meetings of committees for the afternoon when we had encouraged them to shift those sittings to the morning so that we have adequate numbers in the afternoon to conduct business,” he added.
The Chief Whip urged committee leaders to respect the agreed timetable to ensure improved attendance, active participation, and the smooth running of parliamentary proceedings.
Comments (0)