Absence of ECOWAS MPs won’t be tolerated anymore — Speaker

Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mr Moustapha Cisse Lo on Saturday said that the consistent absence of some members of parliament would not be tolerated anymore.

The speaker said this before making his speech at the close of the First Ordinary Session of the parliament in Abuja.

He recalled that during previous sessions and throughout this current one, some parliamentarians never showed up and some others sparingly did and would collect the daily sitting allowances.

It was gathered that the daily sitting allowance is allegedly from $250 to $500.

He said that the Bureau of Parliament had been instructed to block the payments of certain parliamentarians that were absent during the session.

“I gave instruction for MPs to sign the attendance, that attendance list is mandatory because if there is nobody there will be no plenary session.

“I have taken far-reaching decisions and this will be adopted by the Bureau; those who will not be here will have no right to lay claims to the payment.

“We have to put an end to this, I am not going to tolerate this anymore.”

Cisse Lo also urged members to be more committed to promote integration in line with the ECOWAS Vision 2020 of achieving a region of the people.

“I also will insist on participation of parliamentarians in committee deliberations and plenary sessions for the higher authorities and the voters who are our constituents.

“We need to demonstrate a higher level of commitment and perseverance in order to ensure self-assessment of our performance.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria has 35 seats at the parliament; however, very few of them attend sessions and committee meetings.

Speaking with newsmen, Sen. Biodun Olujimi, a representative from Nigeria urged the speaker to be “more receptive to information and must be able to call people and ask questions”.

“What happens is simple. When you are home and you are a legislator, you cannot have a bill on the floor (of your parliament) and then sit here (ECOWAS Parliament).

“That is what has been happening. Rather than vituperate, it would have been a better thing (for the speaker) to call that community and ask them what the problems are and reschedule.

“That is the mark of leadership. When you want to lead you must be able to make allowances and you must be able to see people’s faults and help in making it better.”

Olujimi added that she was, however, not in favour of absenteeism of members of parliament.

Also, Mr Mahama Ayariga, a Ghanaian representative said the parliament could do more than discuss issues concerning the region and encourage debates to ensure more participation of members.