The party leaders should have made it their duty to weigh the intellectual ability of their candidates in order to provide the electorate with capable representatives

MANY viewers called our office on Wednesday morning to express their shock and dismay over the news on SBC on Tuesday night that the MNAs are now going back to school after three years in office. For some it is even after 15 years. Most of the people who called felt cheated and angry because they were under the impression that their Member of the National Assembly was qualified to represent them at the legislative level.

The Leader of Government Business, Mrs. Marie-Louise Potter, didn't mince her words; she went straight to the point: “Our members are not technically minded when presented with a file, say on a fraud case in government. It is very difficult for them to analyse the content,” she said. “They need help,” she added.

This is a damning admission coming from the Leader of Government Business about her colleagues in the National Assembly. The current crop of MNAs are three years into a five year mandate, they are coming to the end of their term of office and most, especially from Parti Lepep, are being replaced as candidates in their respective districts. This exercise is clearly a waste of time and the electorate will not benefit much from it - as most of the MNAs will be leaving the National Assembly within the next two years for good.

It has taken the Speaker and the two Leaders in the National Assembly more than three years to seek help to enhance the intellectual ability of their members and all this time the people have been ill represented. In the modern context this could be constituted as a human rights violation, because the party leaders before putting these people out to be voted in office should have made it their duty to weigh the intellectual ability of their candidates in order to provide the electorate with capable representatives.

It is now beyond doubt that both Parti Lepep and the SNP don't place much importance in providing the people with the best man/woman for the job. This is a great pity, especially for the opposition, as in the past we have lambasted the SPPF/Parti Lepep over the fact that many of their MNAs were “Flower Pots” (Po Fler) in the National Assembly. A British analyst commented recently: If I were to put all the MNAs together, I would'nt get half a brain."