Whips seek to whip truant MPs into line

POLITICS

The government whip's office is drafting a code of ethics that seeks to punish MPs who frequently miss House meetings.

Government chief whip Chinnaworn Boonyakiat said yesterday the code would set clear guidelines on the conduct of MPs and the requirement for them to attend House meetings regularly.

It also specifies penalties for MPs who miss more than three House meetings in each period when parliament is in session.

The code of ethics needs the support of the opposition before it goes into effect.

Mr Chinnaworn said offenders could be liable for impeachment, adding that the code would be effective in dealing with a lack of a quorum which had previously disrupted many House meetings causing important pieces of legislation to be stalled.

Many opposition MPs drew strong criticism recently after they skipped a House meeting to travel to Cambodia to meet convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Siem Reap.

Opposition chief whip Witthaya Buranasiri, however, said that a code of ethics for MPs was not so urgent an issue that needed to be approved in a hurry, as suggested by the government whip.

Parliament was going into recess next week and there were still many more pressing matters on the agenda. The opposition would rather spend the remaining House session debating the government's performance, he said.

The opposition planned to file fresh motions in parliament which the government must answer, Mr Witthaya said.

He said the opposition has recently been deprived of opportunities to check on the government because many parliament meetings were joint House-Senate sittings, and in such circumstances it was not easy to file an interpellation to scrutinise the government.