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General News of Monday, 31 December 2001

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Speaker To Meet President Over MPs Absenteeism

Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey will soon be meeting with President Kufuor to discuss one of his major concerns –absenteeism and lateness on the part of Members of Parliament.

Mr Ala Adjetey, like his predecessor, Justice D.F. Annan has often complained about the small numbers of NPP MPs who attend to business of the House. He believes that MPs who also double as Ministers are kept too busy by their ministerial functions and are therefore unable to make it to Parliament. They only turn up when their votes are needed.

The Speaker says the President can help change the situation and impress on MPs to pay more attention to Parliament if deputy Ministers are assigned to some of the roles of their Ministers. According to him, the Ministers, like all other MPs are needed to bring their expertise to bear on debates and move the work of the House forward.