The Clapping Syndrome-Much Talk Little Work

Members of Parliament representing the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) have, during the recent speech by President Ernest Bai Koroma in the House exhibited a character trait which will more properly be termed as an attitudinal problem manifested in the law making body of the nation.

The APC MPs made observers wonder in amazement at the uncontrollable and boisterous as well as unserious manner in which they repeatedly interrupted the Head of State’s speech with loud and lewd remarks. A lot of observers were surprised to see the way in which the MPs were behaving and what made the whole issue verge on the ridiculous was the cacophony generated by the parliamentarians in even drowning out the voice of the president as he made very important pronouncements.

Numerous visitors to the gallery were not able to decipher the president’s speech as each word was accompanied by loud clapping drowning out the important statements meant for the development or otherwise of the leader.

It is time for our law makers to know that the days of clapping are over; we now have the days of working. During the days of Siaka Stevens, illiterates and other individuals unfit for Parliament were voted in to warm the benches for better heads. Such personalities, ignorant of the workings of Parliament and trying to impress the then Head of State of their unflinching support always go into a frenzy of clapping whenever anything is said. These are the ones who contributed to a large measure to the destruction of this country and saw it degenerate into a failed state ruled by a single political party.

Not that parliamentarians should not clap, the fear is that instead of properly listening and digressing the statements made by the president, these law makers might at the end of the day not even have the right focus in knowing what  the president said and how they can in turn relate this speech to their constituents.

Instead of listening with keenness to the president, an uncontrollable clapping erupted whenever the head of state pronounced any statement, leading to numerous people not getting in a single word of the speech.

While the government is perpetuating the concept of Attitudinal and Behavioral Change, there is a need for this change to be seen in practice. The first such personality or body that has the responsibility of showing this attitudinal change is the Parliamentarian. A nation where the law makers do not conform to the sense of decorum and respect for order is doomed. A father that is disorderly does not have the stance of setting an example worth emulating for the children.

Parliamentarians have to maintain our culture of respect. They have to ensure that this respect for tradition is seen, and they have to make sure that notwithstanding the freedom that democracy and parliament provides, they should also be seen as responsible citizens and not a boisterous crowd of people who are only known for the noise they make rather than the issues they discuss.

A word for anyone who ought to know better is supposedly sufficient. 

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