The Minority in Parliament demands the where about of the Majority Leader after absenting himself from the business of the House for three days.
According to the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsa must explain to the House why he abandoned the House to attend and traveled outside Parliament when he had earlier on insisted that members sit in for another one week before they rise.
He said the Majority Leader convinced them that there were lot of work to do so all Members should abandoned any travel they had and sit in for another week when they were to go on recess on 3rd of April, 2019.
Muntaka said, “he [the Majority Leader] insisted that we needed to make sacrifices to stay… It is in that spirit that you the one who called for sacrifices for people to stay and cancel their programs must lead the charge and not be the one attending his own programs. My colleague Deputy Minority leader [Adwoa Sarfo] has no idea, the Majority Leader has returned from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting and he was even at the Workshop for ministers and left last night. The majority leader is in town.
“He has returned from Qatar. My worry is that the one who called for sacrifices and for members to cancel their programs should be the last to leave the house,” he said.
But the Deputy Majority Leader, Adwoa Safo said the enquiry is unnecessary as the business of the House can be conducted without the presence of the Majority Leader.
According to her, the Majority leader and other members of Parliament were attending to same important business on behalf of the House hence his absence from the House.
“We are all here to work as leaders. He [Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu] is out there holding fort for the Parliament of Ghana and so is the first deputy speaker and we are very much aware of that,” she said.
Absenteeism has been a major issue in Parliament as the House has on several occasions come under attack over the rising incidents of absenteeism without permission, and the Speaker of Parliament has even had the cause to complain about the attendance of MPs to the house which he says continues to affect the business of the House.
