Parliament : Busy Intersession Recess Periods

Members of the Decentralised and Cross-border Diaspora Cooperation Parliament Network (REP-COD) offered breakfast in Yaounde, Douala and Limbe to Cameroonians from the Diaspora who came back home to witness and express their support to the Africa Cup of Nations TotalEnergies 2021 Cameroon organised from January 9 to February 6, 2022. The Head of the Technical Unit of REP-COD, Hon François Xavier Mpon, said it was an occasion for them to discuss investment and other opportunities back at home and how the diaspora can contribute to Cameroon’s development.
The recent activities of REP-COD are just a tip of the iceberg of the multiply activities Members of the National Assembly and Senators carry out in the period between the March, June and November ordinary sessions of parliament each legislative year. Other parliamentary networks also do seldom organise activities and members of Parliamentary Friendship Groups with other Parliaments do at times travel abroad within the framework of their cooperation activities.
The ultimate judge of the work of parliamentarians is the population who elected them. Members of the National Assembly are elected using the list system through direct universal suffrage and Senators are elected through indirect suffrage by municipal councillors. In this case, the period between sessions in Parliament essentially serves as the time for the people’s representatives to go back to their constituencies, organise parliamentary tours, render account of the recent parliamentary session and assist in providing some of the development needs of the population. Indeed, the intersession is the period for the parliamentarians to commune with their constituents and also live and gather some of their development needs to be tabled to government for solutions. Some of the parliamentarians have been using the period to organise, participate and spon...