Politics of Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Source: Joy Online
Minority leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has said that MP’s are not obliged to consult their constituents on every issue in parliament before they decided to participate in debates, according to a report on myjoyonline.
He was responding to criticisms that the MPs’ action to boycott the State of the Nation address may not reflect the sentiments of their constituents who they represent in Parliament, saying, that they are not obliged to consult their constituents on every issue on the floor of the House.
He explained that, MPs sometimes draw on the views of their constituents on specific issues. According to the opinion of the majority of his or her constituents, he said, an MP could decide to take a stand on a particular matter before the House.
Mr Mensah-Bonsu insisted that the decision to attend the State of the Nation Address is not “simplistic;” rather, “there are so many correlating factors that need to be considered and not just because it is a national agenda.”
In a related development, leadership of NPP’s minority in Parliament will meet today to determine whether or not to participate in the State of the Nation Address on Thursday February 21, 2013.
Mr. Kyei Mensah Bonsu says he and his colleagues reserve the right not to attend when President John Dramani Mahama visits the House to deliver his first State of the Nation Address.
Members of the NPP are asking the Supreme Court to nullify the results as declared by the Electoral Commission in a petition to challenging the election results. They claim the victory was engineered through gross electoral manipulation.
Pending the Supreme Court ruling on NPP’s petition, NPP members of parliament have boycotted all proceedings in the legislature, that, according them, will legitimise the presidency of Mahama.