The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho Central, Mr. Kofi Attoh, on Saturday advocated for closer collaboration between media practitioners and Members of Parliament (MPs) for adequate reportage on their activities.

He said the media played a crucial role in propagating the message of parliamentarians and therefore, called for frequent interaction between MPs and journalists for accelerated national development.

Mr. Attoh made these remarks when he addressed reporters and stringers of the Ghana News Agency drawn from the Western, Central and Greater Accra regions, at a workshop in Ho at the weekend.

The two-day workshop aimed at building the capacity of participants towards effective in-depth coverage of this year’s elections was sponsored by STAR-Ghana, a multi-donor pooled organisation comprising UKAID, USAID, European Union and DANIDA.

Speaking on the topic, “Reporting the Member of Parliament from His/Her Constituency”, Mr. Attoh urged journalists to always get in touch with parliamentarians in their respective constituencies to acquaint themselves with the various development projects being undertaken in those areas.

Mr. Attoh, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication, noted that an MP had other functions apart from debating on issues on the floor of Parliament.

He therefore implored the public to refrain from assessing the performance of an MP based solely on his/her contributions on the floor of the House.

“MPs that are vocal on the floor of the House are mostly regarded as hardworking and receive media coverage more than those who are quiet,” he said, adding that this was however not enough to make a fair assessment of the performance of an MP.

The former MP mentioned activities including serving on committees, attending funerals and wedding ceremonies as tasks that MPs performed in their constituencies but which the media did not often bring to the public domain.**