Parliamentary management body set for takeoff
Nominees named by gov't, opposition
Stabroek News
April 10, 2003
The government and the parliamentary opposition have finally agreed to the establishment of the Parliamentary Management Committee - a key bone of contention for a number of years.
Both sides yesterday named their members to the body in renewed cooperation at the parliamentary level following a ground-breaking meeting last week to pave the way for the reappointment of the service commissions.
The committee is intended to organise the work of Parliament and deal with issues like agendas, scheduling of motions, questions, debates etc and is intended to allow all sides in the House to have some say.
The National Assembly now has to approve the appointment of the persons nominated by the Committee of Selection to serve on the Committee, which the Speaker will chair and on which the governing and opposition parties will be equally represented. The motion to establish the committee is expected to be tabled at Monday's sitting of the National Assembly.
The establishment of the Parliamentary Management Committee was a recommendation of the St Lucia Statement signed by then President, Janet Jagan and the late PNCR leader, Desmond Hoyte in 1998 in Castries, St Lucia during a meeting of the CARICOM Heads. It is only now being implemented.
The agreement was formalised at yesterday's reconvened meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of Selection called to nominate members to that committee, the parliamentary sector committees on natural resources, economic services, social services, and foreign affairs and the standing committee on constitutional reform.
Yesterday's meeting was reconvened from last week when the Committee approved the nominations to the Committee on Appointments. The Committee on Appointments will begin the process of reconstituting the police, judicial, public and teaching service commissions which have been in limbo for some time now.
The sector committees, the committee on constitutional reform and the committee on appointments are creations of the recent amendments to the constitution recommended by the Oversight Committee on Constitutional Reform. Those recommendations were submitted in August 2000 to the National Assembly, which later unanimously approved them.
The Committee on Constitutional Reform is empowered to co-opt members from outside the membership of the National Assembly and it is required to keep the operations of the constitution under constant review, and make periodic reports to the National Assembly, including proposals, where appropriate, for reform.
Stabroek News has learnt that the governing party did not submit its nominations for the four sector committees as there is yet no agreement on their composition. The Committee of Selection is to reconvene again on Monday to address this issue. The composition of these sector committees has been a long-running source of controversy between the two sides.
While the government has proposed to the PNCR that it would not nominate ministers to sit on these committees, it suggests that in return the parliamentary opposition should support a constitutional amendment that would increase the number of non-elected ministers from four to ten. Stabroek News understands that the parliamentary opposition believes that increasing the number of non-elected ministers should be an issue for the parliamentary committee on constitution reform.
The other option proposed by the government is a reduction in the size of the committees as the government contends that with an eleven-member committee it would not have sufficient senior members to serve on the committees if it is not allowed to nominate ministers. The opposition contends that the principle of collective responsibility debars ministers from serving on these committees.
Yesterday the government should have submitted some proposals to the PNCR for resolving the deadlock and this is one of the issues, the teams arranging the proposed talks between President Bharrat Jagdeo and PNCR leader Robert Corbin are trying to resolve.
Parliamentary Chief Whip Lance Carberry is the sole member of the PNCR team and the government's team is being led by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Reepu Daman Persaud with Ministers Gail Teixeira and Dr Henry Jeffrey and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, as its other members.
Another issue on which agreement is still to be reached is the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the operations of the Guyana Police Force. During the discussions on the crime communiqué, which was an initiative of the Social Partners there was an agreement on the establishment of an inquiry. However when the talks broke down, the "Rohee Principle" kicked in which meant that there was no agreement once all the issues were not agreed. Dr Luncheon's invocation of this principle during the discussions in the Social Partners crime initiative was said to have sparked its collapse.
Stabroek News understands, however, that the two sides are looking at whether the Commission of Inquiry Act or the Disciplined Ser-vices Commission, one of the commissions created by the recent amendments, might be the best mechanism for setting up such an inquiry. The Disciplined Services Com-mission will have the power to examine the structure, procedures and composition of the Disciplined Forces with a view to making recommendations to Parliament, which will help to ensure that they continue to enjoy the confidence of all the people of Guyana in exercising their constitutional responsibilities.
Stabroek News understands that there are a number of other issues on which agreement had been reached during the dialogue discussions but for which detailed proposals for their implementation are still to be agreed. Stabroek News understands that Persaud's team is also expected to make some submissions on these issues today.
An issue on which some progress has been made is the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, another of the creations of the recent constitutional amendments. The five members of this commission, whom the Public Accounts Committee shall appoint, are required to have experience and expertise in procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters.
