Cameroon: National Assembly Speaker Castigates Lawmakers Boycotting Session

The long serving speaker of Cameroon’s National Assembly, Hon. Cavaye Yegue Dibrili, has castigated Members of Parliament, MPs for boycotting sessions.

Speaking at a recent plenary, the Speaker said, most lawmakers spend time loitering around Yaounde seeking pleasure.

Cavaye stated that most of the MPs will end up having nothing to tell their population because they don’t even know what was done through out the March session.

Going by the Speaker, if constituents seek to know what their MPs did in Yaounde through out this period, most of the lawmakers would only stutter because they have nothing to say.

Only 30 MPs out of the 180 that make up the legislative chambers are said to have answered present at the plenary that saw the House Speaker going nerves high.

The standing orders of the National Assembly states in section 71 that members of parliament can give proxy or absent from a session only when they are sick, on a mission, incases of force majeur and others circumstances.

Reacting to the outburst of the House Speaker, Hon Koupit Adamu of the opposition Cameroon Democratic Union, CDU, said: “When the speaker of the National Assembly condemns this as he did, I think he has the right to do so,” adding that the persistent absence from session is because of the lack of sanctions on MPs.

“Concerning the internal regulations of the National assembly, there is no measure concerning the absence of parliamentarians within session and no sanction is envisaged,” the MP said.

Mimi Mefo Info