Gov’t offers deal on parliamentary committees
Stabroek News
March 21, 2003
The government has abandoned its demand for a majority on the Parliamentary Management Committee and its insistence on ministers of the government being members of the parliamentary sectoral committees.
In return it wants the opposition parties to support a constitutional amendment to raise the number of technocrat ministers from four to ten.
The sector committees were created by recent amendments to the constitution. The parliamentary management committee was one of the measures of the St Lucia Statement that then President Janet Jagan had agreed to implement in return for the PNCR taking up its seats in the National Assembly following the December 1997 general elections.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Reepu Daman Persaud made the proposals in a letter on Friday to PNCR Chief Whip Lance Carberry. Persaud’s proposals were made in response to Carberry’s proposal, which were set out on February 25. Persaud and Carberry, the respective representatives of President Jagdeo and PNCR leader, Robert Corbin, are tasked with setting the modalities and agenda for the meeting between the leaders.
Stabroek News understands that Corbin is meeting with representatives of the other parliamentary parties this morning at the George-town Club to discuss Persaud’s proposals.
There is also a meeting today involving Persaud, Carberry and the Speaker to look at strengthening the Parliament Office to service the additional committees created by the constitutional amendments.
The PPP’s position on the parliamentary management committee is that the committee should be chaired by the Speaker of the National Assembly with the governing and opposition parties having the same number of seats. The Speaker will have no vote and where there is a deadlock on an issue it must be referred to the National Assembly.
Stabroek News understands that this proposal had been made before by the opposition parties though they had given the Speaker an original vote. However, the government had refused to accept it.
With regard to the parliamentary sector committees, the PPP’s proposal has agreed to ministers not being members of the committee but wants the opposition parties to agree to a constitutional amendment raising the number of technocrat ministers that could be appointed from four to ten.
President Jagdeo made this proposal too during the dialogue process with Hoyte, who rejected it. As a result President Jagdeo suggested a reduction in the size of the committees. However, discussion between their representatives, Persaud and Carberry failed to agree on the size to which they should be reduced.
