(POLITICS) National Assembly

According to the weekly " Ivoire Hebdo", president Amadou Soumahoro of the National Assembly has asked 17 MPs who hold cumulative positions in the public and private sector ''to choose between their administrative or business position and Lawmaking''.

Indeed, following President Alassane Ouattara's decision to tackle corruption, the speaker has decided to clean up the commons of MPs benefitting from multiple salaries. Amongst those, Adama Bictogo of Agboville, Aboubacar Cissé of Aboisso, Dah Sassan and others were summoned to either resign from their "side lucrative jobs" or lose their MPs' perks in their noble duty to serve the nation.

All those concerned are from the ruling party. So the nation wonders about the balance of power if forced to resign. With 225 MPs in the National assembly, the ruling "Rhdp" holds 137 seats against 91 combined opposition and 26 independents.

With a balance of 120 against 91 in favour of the ruling party, independents will have the last word in any vote, which could be disastrous for the RHDP in the future.

In any case, the forced resignation of the 17 MPs concerned will lead to heated parliamentary debates because each party (power and opposition) will want to seduce the independent kingmakers; a can of worms in the event of a desire to tweak the ever so important constitution before 2025.

Published 08/10/2021 By Akissi K.Valere

ivorycoasttribune.com