EVERY TIME a crucial vote is in order to pass or reject an important bill in Parliament, we encounter significant absenteeism among lawmakers.
The business of lawmakers is chiefly and primarily conducted in Parliament. There can be no representative or stand-in when it comes to voting on a bill.
But when you read about the sizable number of lawmakers not present to see to the movement of bills in Parliament that have far and wide-ranging impact on citizens, we have to haul up such lawmakers to account for their absence.
I mean, no one else can pass or reject a motion on an impending bill. Only a lawmaker can do this job. And they are acting on behalf of their constituency, which had put the lawmaker in office in the very first place.
The passing of the bill on Sosma hat now gives police the right to detain suspects for 28 days without trial or legal representation – or even access to family – shames our lawmakers to kingdom come.
A good 15% of lawmakers were absent from Parliament when the vote was called. That made 83 present to reject the motion while 105 voted in favour.
In all probability, the 32 absent lawmakers could have helped reject this bill that was being pushed a second time. The last time the home minister tried to push the bill was as recently as 23 March but had failed.
It is about time to name and shame parliamentarians who do not report for work at their most legitimate place of business, especially when bills are tabled.
This escapist culture among lawmakers is an abuse of democracy. It is gross misconduct that raises ethical questions of morality.
If frogging is bad, so, too, is absenteeism. – The Vibes, July 21, 2022
J.D. Lovrenciear reads The Vibes
