Speaker Alban Bagbin
Parliament has replaced the traditional attendance register with the full implementation of a biometric attendance system to record the presence of Members of Parliament (MPs) at sittings.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, announced the measure at the opening of the Third Meeting of the Second Session of the Ninth Parliament on Tuesday, saying the system would ensure accurate, reliable and verifiable records of members’ attendance.
Under the new arrangement, MPs will be required to register their presence through designated biometric consoles, and the traditional register will no longer be circulated for members to sign.
Mr. Bagbin disclosed that 258 MPs had already enrolled in the system, and urged those who had not completed the process to do so without delay.
He warned that members who failed to enrol risked being marked absent without permission.
He said the introduction of biometric registration was part of administrative and technological upgrades intended to improve the efficiency, accuracy and accountability of parliamentary proceedings.
The Speaker also directed the parliamentary whips to formalise the allocation of seats and ensure that every MP was assigned a designated seat by the end of the week.
He said the arrangement was necessary for the effective implementation of the electronic attendance system, explaining that members’ attendance and other records would be linked to their assigned seats.
Mr. Bagbin cautioned MPs against occupying seats assigned to their colleagues, indicating that members who sat in the wrong places might not have their activities properly recorded.
He further warned that the microphones would be linked to the designated seating arrangement, meaning that an MP who occupied another member’s seat might not be able to speak through the system.
The Speaker said the whips were expected to resolve outstanding issues relating to the seating arrangements, adding that he might intervene to allocate seats if they failed to complete the exercise.
According to him, the biometric attendance system forms part of a broader digital transformation programme for the eight-week parliamentary meeting.
Electronic Voting System
Among the planned reforms is the piloting of an electronic voting system to speed up decision-making, improve voting efficiency and reduce errors associated with manual counting.
Mr. Bagbin acknowledged that some MPs, particularly those unfamiliar with computers, might be apprehensive about the changes but assured them that the systems were user-friendly and that technical support would be provided.
He also directed the Clerk to Parliament to engage the Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, the National Communications Authority and technical consultants to develop a plan for the effective and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in parliamentary business.
He said Parliament must embrace technology to strengthen institutional effectiveness, transparency and accountability.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House