Stop long nights in Parliament

talking bad about each other, nor is it to attend opening ceremonies and talk to reporters about reaction pieces, nor are they tasked to moan about their pet peeves.

Is the public ready for this? I only ask because the public insists on treating politicians like rock stars, with dinners and concerts; with crowd interaction similar to Orwell’s sheep, merely pressing on the same points and joining the choir.

We seem to have political parties more insistent on keeping a record of how their elected lawmakers turn up at such events, rather than rate their attendance and have them state their votes in either the Parliament or state assemblies.

And most of this is due to public pressure of wanting their elected officials to turn up or be scorned for “not doing their jobs” of meeting the grassroots. Well, it isn’t their job. An elected parliamentarian is supposed to be away from the constituency to be the voice of his area in Parliament, not back in his constituency or on a ceramah road trip.

The failure of the public to understand this, goes to show the immaturity of the electorate in understanding politics.

Thus, instead of having proper debates at civilised hours of the day, and having more legal bills in the docket to be presented and passed, what we have are sudden periods of long nights and early mornings to no one’s benefit.

Yes, we do need to reform parliament and the debates, as well as keep it all proper and civil. But at the same time, the public must learn that lawmakers are not their rock stars and idols who must go on tour to please them.

Their first and only duty should be to remain rooted in Parliament and ensure our laws are up to date. Failure to understand this will limit our ability to progress as a nation, and keep laws outdated for decades to the point that even the amendments become ancient and irrelevant.

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