Somaliland Parliament Members who plant barriers for the development of their constituencies
Parliament is a form of a nation’s governing body. Parliamentary systems ascend to power through a popular vote and represent specific constituencies throughout the country for a set period of time. Each Member of Parliament adheres to several specific duties, including debates within the house of parliament, sitting on committees, representing his constituency and voting on laws.Participation in debates is a common task of a member of parliament. The purpose of the debate is to persuade other members to vote in a specific manner, usually for a proposed piece of legislation or against the legislation. Members of parliament base their debates on the views of their constituency, the people who elected them, as well as extensive research and special interest groups. Debates can become heated and members of parliament often speak passionately about the issue at hand.
Members of parliament also spend time sitting on committees. Committees are small groups of members that focus on a specific topic, including spending and development matters of their respective constituencies. Committees and the members of parliament that sit on the committee ultimately make recommendations about matters of national importance, such as newly proposed bills and laws.Members of parliament must represent the views and concerns of their constituency on a national level. Often members return to their constituency to meet with citizens and to better understand the concerns facing the citizens of their region. Members of parliament attend local functions, visit schools and try to meet as many people as they can. This first-hand knowledge allows the member to best represent those who voted for him in parliament.
Members of parliament take into consideration the facts presented regarding the law, the position of their constituency, extensive research and the matters raised during the debate. Sometimes members of parliament vote in line with the political party to which they belong. If the proposed law receives sufficient votes cast by the members of parliament, it can become law.However, although the contractual obligation of the parliamentarians is detailed above, nevertheless, we are aware a numerous parliamentarians in Somaliland, who have not think about and bothered for the circumstances of their constituency, which they were elected from.
A good illustration for such parliamentarians are those who go up against the roads projects proposed to be implement in their respective constituency and without naming them, some who were elected Sannag region. In conclusion, I am confident that, they will not attain a single vote from the voters of this region had they attempt to stand an election on second term from their original constituency taken into consideration their past carelessness and negligence for the people of their constituency as they even objected and stood against the developing programmes planned and initiated by Somali-land government just for sake of their self interest. We anticipate such parliamentarians like this example will not elected in our future elections.
Ismail lugweyne.