Top Five (5) Absentees In Parliamen

Data collated and analysed by Lolan Sagoe-Moses, a student of the University of Leeds, has provided valuable insight into the attendance culture at Ghana’s Parliament.

The data, which Sago-Moses broke down in the article, “What has your MP done for you? Analysing MPs’ effectiveness between January 2013 & July 2014”, tracked the attendance of 275 Members of Parliament (MPs) between January 2013 and July 2014.

The findings, which have been published on odekro.org, with data mining and visualisation support from Ian Gregorio de Souza and Nehemiah Attigah, reveal:

1. The average MP missed 24% of sitting days. (That amounts to a day missed out of every four days)

2. The average MP was present for 121 and absent for 37 of 158 official working days in Parliament.

During the period, the top five most regular MPs were:

1. Justice Joe Appiah (Ablekuma North) 158/158 days

2. Nelson Abudu Baani (Daboya/Mankarigu) 158/158 days

3. Christian Corletey Otuteye (Sege) 157/158 days

4. Frank Boakye Agyen (Effiduase Asokore) 155/158 days

5. Kwame Seth Achaempong (Mpraeso) 154/158 days

The top five most absent MPs were:

1. Clement Kofi Humado (Anlo) 44/158 days

2. Akwasi Opong-Fosu (Amenfi East) 44/158 days

3. Evans Paul Aidoo (Sefwi-Wiawso) 46/158 days

4. Hannah Tetteh (Awutu Senya-West) 47/158 days

5. Eric Opoku (Asunafo South) 52/158 days

With the first four of the five absentee MPs being Ministers of State and the fifth a former Minister, the data, according to Sagoe-Moses, supports the view that constitutional obligation of the President appointing 60% of Ministers from Parliament weakens the legislature.