By Mohamed Kamara

The Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Abass Chernor Bundu at the reopening of the 6th Parliament on Thursday 12th September, 2023 has made what he described as a final call to the remaining 52 MPs of the All People’s Congress (APC) who boycotted the ongoing Parliamentary sittings as a result of directives from the APC hierarchy and in forms that section 77 (e) of the constitution Standing Orders 77 (a) provides the necessary penalty to be imposed on MPs who for reasons best known to them boycotted parliamentary sittings without due notice to the Speaker in accordance with parliamentary laws.

The Speaker in forms that the absent Members of Parliament have seven more sittings to their favour after which if they continue the boycott will have no one to blame as the Constitution stipulates will be applied. He said he understands that the concern MPs are negotiating with the SLPP led government, but it is uncertain to predict the outcome.

The speaker congratulated the only two APC MPs in Parliament Hon. Alfred Ayodele Thompson and the leader of the main opposition Hon. Mohamed Bangura as members of the ECOWAS Regional Parliament in Abuja Nigeria. He called on Hon. Bangura to assist in convincing his colleagues to take their seats in Parliament. Hon. Bangura expressed optimism, noting that they are presently negotiating with government.