Prime Minister Gaston Browne on Monday warned Members of Parliament against failing to attend parliamentary sittings, telling lawmakers they were expected to show up unless prevented by illness, official travel or other extenuating circumstances.

Browne made the remarks during the first sitting of the new Parliament following the swearing-in of elected MPs.

“We expect you to be in attendance unless there’s illness or you would have traveled unofficially business or there is some extenuating circumstance or circumstances that would prevent you from discharging your duties in this humble house,” Browne said.

The prime minister said Parliament was “the top decision-making body in the land” and must be treated with respect by all members.

“We do not want individuals who will come to Parliament when they feel like,” he said.

Browne also reminded MPs that Parliament was where “the voice of the people collectively are heard” and said lawmakers had a “fiduciary responsibility” to represent constituents “with dignity and certainly with professionalism.”

The remarks came during a broader address in which Browne congratulated Osbert Frederick on his reappointment as Speaker and Philmore Benjamin on his election as Deputy Speaker.

Speaker Frederick had earlier announced apologies from the member for All Saints East and St. Luke, the member for Barbuda, and the member for St. Philip’s South, who was said to have had an emergency preventing attendance.

Browne told lawmakers that the government’s landslide election victory was “not a mandate for slothfulness” but instead a mandate to “serve more faithfully the people of Antigua and Barbuda.”