NPP delegates have indeed indicated that should a sitting parliamentarian fully dedicate his/her time to the core duties (enacting laws and enforcing the accountability rules) in parliament and 'neglect' the welfare of party faithful, he/she will lose the seat.

It is becoming clear that the role of the parliamentarian has been dualised: a lawmaker and physical infrastructure development agent (as defined by the electorate).

This is a worrying trend, since it has the potency of crippling parliament as a law-making and accountability institution.

If delegates will decide on the fate of a parliamentarian based on physical infrastructure development within the constituency, then roles of the MMDCEs will be rendered redundant.

There must be an independent body that measures the performance of MPs with key performance indicators (KPIs) to ascertain the true performance of MPs.

The media, civil society organisations, political parties and government agencies must form an alliance to design a comprehensive sensitisation programme in changing the narrative.