Reporting Parliamentary Activities : For What Effect?

Parliament is currently in recess. The next Parliamentary session is in November which will be principally dedicated to the scrutiny of the State budget for the coming year. It is the institution that votes laws which are implemented nationwide. The legal instruments are intended to guide societal behaviours and improve the wellbeing of the population on several aspects. As Parliament meets three times a year, in accordance with the Constitution, it would be important for its members to regain their base at the end of these sessions, some of which sometimes see the adoption of laws that have a direct impact on the lives of the population. The most regular case is undoubtedly the finance law, which usually contains some modifications on prices of a product or a service. It is thus during periods of parliamentary recess that the legislators meet their constituents to explain various activities and actions taken at the law-making House. Besides expatiating on the pertinence of laws voted, the people’s representative also offer gifts of diverse forms to the population and listen to their aspirations so as to better articulate them during deliberations in Parliament. This is the beginning of an academic year and we see Senators and Members of Parliament (MPs) offering didactic materials and other assistance to parents, to help facilitate back-to-school enrolment of the children. However, it must be emphasized that these field activities must be permanent and impactful.
Impactful in the sense that the population should be able to be abreast with certain laws, especially those concerned with financial reforms. Memories are fresh about the phone tax, that was finally never really implemented, which was in the finance law but many were not aware. Another example is the increase, of an additional FCFA 500, on the prices of fiscal stamps to be affixed on documents. This new tariff, received by some users with vexation, is contained in the finance law that went o...