Members of the National Assembly have been asked to moved out of their respective offices latest Monday, May 18, with the expiration of the 7th Assembly just 17 days.
The directive was passed to the legislators by the National Assembly management through an internal memo.
Aides, including senior legislative aides and other non-permanent members of staff in the lawmakers’ offices, also got the directive, an aide to one of the members of the House of Representatives confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES.
“It is a normal routine thing that happens every four years,” the legislative aide said. “It’s to reallocate the offices, especially as new members will be coming in. Also, you know there is hierarchy here. Some returning members will be reallocated offices upstairs, while new ones will take offices downstairs. The National Assembly has to prepare for the inauguration of the 8th Assembly.”
PREMIUM TIMES learnt the legislators and their aides started receiving the memo since last Wednesday.
An official, who did not want to be named as he was not cleared to speak officially on matter, said, “The directive came early so that we will be able to meet up with schedule for inauguration of the 8th Assembly. We have to do repairs, change name tags and so on.”
The Senate and the House of Representatives have 109 and 360 members respectively. However, while 76 senators are not returning, 299 House members also lost bid to return.
