THE STUPIDITY OVER ABSENCES FROM THE HOUSE

It appears that newspaper reporters and newspaper editors never learn anything from election cycle to cycle. So last week, The Tribune has a reporter go over the attendance record of those who were members of the parliament during the last term. They claim this as an attendance record. The headline was that the Minister of Foreign Affairs had the worst attendance record, in that he was only present 60 per cent of the time in the House. This on the face of it was supposed to mean what? The story was so stupid and the author of the story clearly ignorant. The Minister was asked for comment and he declined. The stupidity of the question was so obvious. It took the Minister for Government business Wayne Monroe to explain the obvious, the Minister of Foreign Affairs is out of the country on the business of the country. That is the plain and obvious reason why he was not in the House. Was there any rule broken? No!  Did he discharge his responsibilities to the House? Yes. So what the hell was the problem? The stupidity is sometimes boundless in this country. Every election cycle the press does this and so the conclusion one now draws is that it is malicious.