By Binta Jaiteh
The National Assembly has reminded the cabinet members of the importance of appearing before the house in person to answer questions from lawmakers on time.
“Before adjournment, I wish to reiterate and remind all Honorable Ministers and Government, the Assembly’s resolution at its sitting of Tuesday 22nd June, 2021 on same subject matter, “…That henceforth, Honorable Ministers shall be required to appear in-person before the (National) Assembly as scheduled to answer to businesses under their charge, or officially notify the Assembly in good time the overseeing Honorable Minister instead,” house Speaker Mariam Jack-Denton read out a resolution to lawmakers.
“This resolution was communicated to Her Excellency, The Vice President and for the attention of all Cabinet Ministers via a letter Re: ME 54/70/01/III/ (27); dated 01st September, 2021. On that note, Honorable Cabinet Ministers and government by and large are reminded to take the business of Parliament very seriously and attend to their schedule accordingly. Failure of such, the Assembly will be left with no option but to charge defaulting Ministers of contempt to Parliament,” she added.
Meanwhile, she mentioned the Honorable Attorney General inability to attend to his businesses as scheduled due to the fact that he is currently out of the jurisdiction added that the fact was made known to the Office of the Speaker and Clerk as they were about to enter the chambers for business of the.
Furthermore, “the Approved Agenda of this Session was shared with all the Ministries well in good time for the attention of the various Hon. Ministers of Government, particularly those who have businesses in Parliament,” she explained.
She went further explaining that “Precisely, the approved Agenda was circulated on the 10th January, 2022, almost a month ago for the due attention of all Honorable Ministers including the Honorable Attorney General. Receipt of this is acknowledged by the Ministry of Justice. In addition, today’s Order Paper which is a direct copy of the agenda was shared with the Ministry of Justice as required by our Standing Orders. As Presiding Officer, I am very concern that Parliament will not be able to proceed with business due to the unavailability of the Attorney General without any prior formal communication to my Office or the Office of the Clerk. For this reason, I am requesting the Assembly Business Committee (ABC) to urgently convene a meeting to look into this matter and review the conduct of the Honorable,” she added.
“Attorney General in accordance with sections 74, 75, 77 and 110 of the 1997 Constitution of the Republic and the various provisions of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly. The ABC shall advice the plenary of this Assembly for any possible further action. Notwithstanding, the Honorable Attorney General is hereby required to tender a letter of apology to the Assembly for his failure to attend to businesses under his charge in Parliament, without prejudice to the right of the Assembly to take any further action,” she continued.
