Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
DELROY CHUCK, speaker of the House of Representatives, has rushed to the defence of tardy parliamentarians who registered high levels of absenteeism from October 2007 to March 2008, covering a total of 48 parliamentary sittings.
At the beginning of yesterday's sitting, Chuck referenced an article published in this week's Sunday Gleaner, which pointed to the number of times parliamentarians failed to attend sittings of the House.
Chuck argued that, about 90 per cent of the time, members of parliament (MPs), particularly ministers of government, tendered apologies for their absence when on official business.
"The impression is given that when a person is absent four or 10 or 20 times, it means that they have disregarded their duties in Parliament which is not necessarily the case," Chuck contended.
He said it was unfair for the media to suggest that MPs did not show up for sittings without submitting a reason for their absence.
But Chuck's claim about the apologies tendered has not been borne out by official documents obtained by The Gleaner.
Only Prime Minister Bruce Golding (100 per cent), Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ken Baugh (80 per cent), and Labour Minister Pearnel Charles (100 per cent) come close to Chuck's claim that ministers apologise 90 per cent of the times they are absent.
Meanwhile, Chuck congratulated acting leader of government business Andrew Gallimore and Everald Warmington for not missing a sitting.
"I thank the media for putting this to the country so that the country can see how their representatives are attending Parliament, but I would ask members of the media to put in bracket a figure when they are absent with apology or without apology," he said.
edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com
Below is the summary of attendance at the House of Representatives for some ministers of government. The period under review is October 2, 2007 - July 22, 2008.
Karl Samuda, minister of industry, investment and commerce - missed five sittings (twice due to government business) and has apologised three times.
Dr Christopher Tufton, minister of agriculture - missed nine sittings and has apologised once.
Andrew Holness, minister of education - missed two sittings and apologised once.
See complete list in tomorrow's Gleaner.
