The National Assembly speaker has warned cabinet ministers that they must appear before the house in person to answer questions or be charged with contempt of parliament.

The warning comes after the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dawda A. Jallow failed to appear before lawmakers on Monday.

The minister is believed to be out of the country. The session was adjourned after the no-show and speaker of the house Mariam Denton read out a parliamentary resolution warning ministers that it is their constitutional duty to appear before lawmakers when summoned to do so.

She said: “Before adjourning, I wish to reiterate and remind all Hon. Ministers and Government, the Assembly’s resolution at its sitting of Tuesday 22nd June, 2021 on same subject matter, ‘…that henceforth, Hon. Ministers shall be required to appear in-person before the Assembly as scheduled to answer to businesses under their charge, or officially notify the Assembly in good time the overseeing Hon. Minister instead.’

“This resolution was communicated to Her Excellency, The Vice President and for the attention of all Cabinet Ministers via a letter Re: ME 54/70/01/III/ (27); dated 01st September, 2021. On that note, Hon. Cabinet Ministers and government by and large are reminded to take the business of Parliament very seriously and attend to their schedule accordingly.

“Failure of such, the Assembly will be left with no option but to charge defaulting ministers of contempt to parliament,” she added.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba