MP’S lament poor debate and delibaration at the ECOWAS Parliament.
Some members of ECOWAS Parliament have lamented the lack of proper deliberation and debate on the floor of the house before the speaker takes a stand on any issue that border on the subregion during plenary.
A member of the house Mahama Ayariga representative from Ghana during an interview with journalist at the end of the session said so many issues are only discussed during committee meetings but not on the floor of the house.
“Season has been good but it could be better I say so because as a parliament of the people of the sub- region I am sure people expect to hear more debate and deliberate on issues about free movement across borders , debate on issues of human trafficking across the Sahel of our young people and issues of security, we have discussed these issues at committee levels but in plenary we have not really debated on these issues”.
Ayariga further explained that members usually loose interest for lack of active debate and deliberation which is key in every Parliament. “ Reason some members don’t come, is because nothing is exciting to be in the chambers really, no serious debate takes place , politicians enjoy debating and getting the attention of their constituency so one of the things we want the speaker to do is to ensure proper deliberation and debate, that will attract MPs to come, sit and participate”
The Ghana MP also emphasized the need for the speaker to respect privacy of members when he commented on the issue where the speaker angrily voiced out his concern regarding Members who fail to attend plenary but apply for sitting allowances. Ayariga tried to draw the attention of the speaker but he didn’t oblige him the opportunity Ayariga said the speaker shouldn’t bring Administrative issues to the floor of the house he applauded the speaker though for taking stands on issues but emphasized the need to keep administrative issues of MP’s away from the public eyes.
“ Today I try to draw the attention of the speaker to some issues that he raised ,I think that the speaker should ensure accountability of everyone of us but should also ensure they are privately handled”.
He also stressed the need for synergy in the house and harmony as regards differences in culture and tradition.
“ There are some political dynamics that I am reluctant to talk about looking at the composition of the Parliament. We have francophone and Anglophone with different traditions so their style and approach in parliamentary practice is different from ours so there are quite some disagreement between the two but measures are being put in place, discussions are on going and reform will take place soon for proper synergy”.
