The slow pace of sessions at the Legislature is a troubling sign for that august body as the chamber of the House of Representatives was conspicuously empty on Monday, January 16 when the Legislature resumed.
Of the 73 members in the lower house, only 29 were present during the formal opening while 44 were conspicuously absent knowing fully well that the Constitution mandates the Legislature to resume by giving flimsy excuses void of authenticity.
As a result, Monday’s formal resumption was poorly attended as not even up to five persons were announced are sick or had travelled out of the country therefore the registered number signified technically that there was no quorum for that body to have carried out any business of the day least to speak of resumption.
Yesterday, was even worst as the session did not begin until noon apparently due to lack of quorum which is a bad omen for the constituents who are hoping that their concerns might reach the plenary in this final phase of the session through their lawmakers.
Although all 73 Representatives and half of the 30 Senators will be seeking re-elections, as we speak, most of them are already on their campaign spree within their respective constituencies which should be a noticeable violation of the NEC’s official schedule for the campaign process.
With the already troubling sign from the opening session early this week, our fear is that this could undoubtedly also creep in the Senate, thereby making it difficult and impossible to form a quorum to debate issues being legislated and that could paralyze the Legislature.
Lest, the lawmakers forget, one does not have to begin early campaign after serving the same people for over five years as your work should be speaking for you and giving your constituents more reasons to retain you.
Also, the people whom you serve or are running to for re-election must be mindful be that there is still much work to be done on their behalf and if you their representatives cannot remain in session to join the debate in the remaining months, their concerns will continue to languish.
Meanwhile, the mass absenteeism of lawmakers to resume official work ‘Must Be Critically Periscoped’ if the governance of the country is to remain positively on course.
