When the Prime Minister is speaking in Parliament, he or she should be respected and should command the attention of those at least who sit on the Government’s side of the aisle.

Watching Prime Minister Andrew Holness speak in the House last week, I was struck by how many Government members were looking at their phones and not paying rapt attention to what he was saying.

This is most disrespectful. You have the Prime Minister giving an account of recovery efforts after the hurricane and fielding questions, and his own ministers are not paying attention, opting instead to check their phones.

The optics here is something that needs to be addressed.

When in Parliament, attending to the affairs of state, why not turn off your phone or retrieve it after the sitting of Parliament? What can be more important than the country’s welfare?

This gauche practice is particularly frequent with the younger members of the Government. They have no idea how bad it looks. How can you concentrate on what the Prime Minister is saying and be looking at your phone at the same time?

No wonder so many of their generation have attention deficit disorders.

It is the height of bad manners.

The Prime Minister warrants your undivided attention and special effort must be made to be alert and listen to what he is saying.

Audrey Marks is a new Member of Parliament, and she sits right behind the Prime Minister. Her demeanour is what should be emulated. She pays attention, and her posture is one that is taking in what the Prime Minister is saying without making inane utterances.

She is never buried in a phone, checking emails and WhatsApps. Her deportment is what should be expected by a parliamentarian, particularly when the Prime Minister is on his feet before the House.

Someone needs to instil parliamentary etiquette in Gordon House. It should be a bastion of good behaviour, an example for the citizenry to follow.

Parliamentarians studying their phones rather than paying attention to proceedings is also a big problem in the UK’s House of Commons.

In 2014, Conservative MP Nigel Mills issued an apology for playing the mobile puzzle game “ Candy Crush Saga” during a Commons committee hearing.

When you watch debates in Gordon House, many of the members are not even discreet about the use of mobile phones. Your Prime Minister is talking and you disrespect him this way? Isn’t he worthy of your attention?

It is most discourteous.

The Jamaican parliament must do better; its members must exhibit decorum.

In the U.S. Congress, there is a rule that “A person on the floor of the House may not smoke or use a mobile electronic device that impairs decorum.”

In the Scottish Parliament, mobile phones must be switched off in the Chamber and the use of all electronic devices are currently prohibited under the Code of Conduct.

In Greece, electronic devices are banned from the plenary hall. Iran has prohibited mobile phones inside parliamentary chambers.

“ In order to safeguard the dignity of Parliament’s proceedings and to minimise the risk of disturbance to members, the College of Quaestors has decided that mobile telephones may not be brought into meeting rooms or the Chamber,” reads an Order from the European Parliament.

Maybe this is something to look at in Jamaica.