The Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has attributed the persistent low attendance of Members of Parliament (MPs) during plenary sessions to the actions of certain Committee Chairpersons.
According to him, some Chairpersons intentionally schedule committee meetings at the same time as plenary sittings, making it difficult for the House to form a quorum and conduct business.
His remarks follow the release of a parliamentary attendance report covering 43 sittings between January and March 2025, which revealed that several MPs missed sittings for more than 20 days without official permission.
Addressing the issue on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Dafeamekpor said that despite repeated calls to review committee schedules, some Chairpersons continue to disregard directives.
“The records will bear me out that I drew the attention of the leadership of the committees to this matter. Mr. Speaker, we have discovered that some leaders of committees are arranging committee business in the afternoon when we have all agreed that committee business should be arranged in the morning, so that at 2 p.m., we will be ready to conduct business in the House,” he said.
He noted that the day’s Order Paper contained several committee meetings scheduled for the afternoon, contrary to the earlier agreement.
“Today’s Order Paper shows that there are advertised meetings of committees for the afternoon when we had encouraged them to shift those sittings to the morning so that we have adequate numbers in the afternoon to conduct business,” he added.
The Chief Whip therefore appealed to Committee Chairpersons to comply with the agreed schedule to ensure full participation of Members and the smooth running of parliamentary business.