THE frequent lack of quorums in parliament has negative costs to parliament business and for the country, says the Leader of Opposition Jeremiah Manele.

Contributing in yesterday’s motion of Sine Die, Mr Manele justifies that when parliament is unnecessarily forced to adjourn because there is no quorum, the business of the house stops and is unnecessarily prolonged.

“We cannot afford to continue like this, we cannot,” he told MPs on the floor of parliament yesterday.

Mr Manele said MPs are responsible and take their responsibilities very, very seriously.

“That should be what we are, being responsible to attend to the call that we are elected to attend to.

“That is to attend meetings of parliament, the very institution that the title of our job is strongly attached to members of parliament or parliamentarians.

“So let me once again reiterate that we are elected first and foremost to this house and to deal with its business,” he stressed.

He said this is the primary responsibility for elected members of parliament. Thus one cannot participate in transacting the business of this house “the national   parliament of Solomon Islands” by absenting him or herself from the proceedings of parliament.

“I am sure that when we did our campaigns, we were eager to be part of this important debating chamber, thus attending parliament meetings must have been part of that eagerness.

“Furthermore, we are here not for eternity, we are here by law for only four years and if our people think we are still worthy of representing them they will give us another four years. Let our voices be heard in this chamber by attending the meetings of parliament,” he pointed out.

He said MPs must be conscious of time.

“All of us, all Solomon Islanders. This attitude and practice of Solomon time is costly and undermines our nation’s growth and development.

“As national leaders we must take the lead to show commitment to time. Let’s change the attitude and mindset of Solomon time, otherwise we will never get to where we want to go,” he stressed.