Govt., Opposition still at loggerheads on Parliamentary Committees
The stalemate over the selection of the members of the various Parliamentary committees continues. Yesterday, the House postponed the meeting of the Committee of Selection hours before its scheduled commencement. The meeting is now scheduled for March 12.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Chief Whip, Amna Ally, at an emergency press briefing yesterday, explained that Raphael Trotman, Speaker of the National Assembly, had suggested that the nomination of members for the various committees should be done at the tripartite level.
This was because the People’s Progressive Party/Civic has so far refused to name its representatives. APNU and the Alliance for Change (AFC) have already named theirs.
The PPP/C is arguing that the committees should have 10 members with five from the ruling party, four from APNU and the other for the AFC. It insists that this will reflect an accurate makeup of the representation in the House.
Nonetheless, the matter was raised at the tripartite discussion and the Opposition is unmoved to change its proposal of nine-member committees.
Ally recollected that on February 24, last, members of the Committee of Selection met to elect members of the various parliamentary committees. They also agreed that the numbers of the committees should be changed from 10 to nine members.
She said that the Speaker of the National Assembly, who is also the Chairman of the Selection Committee, should execute his function “without fear or favour, affection or ill will.”
“We believe in unity and consensus. In an effort to avoid gridlock and impasse, APNU and AFC are convinced that the nine-member committee is most likely to represent the public interest and to advance the work of the National Assembly.”
According to Volda Lawrence, APNU Member of Parliament, the Parliamentary Committees could operate without input from the Government.
Lawrence stated, “There is nothing in the Standing Order that says any sanctions could be meted it out to them (Government) and so if you only have committees with opposition members it only gives way for the Government to cry foul and say that we are pursuing our own personal objectives.”
“Having the government on committees is always the best thing when all the parties in the National Assembly are represented on these committees. It gives more credibility to the work of the committee and citizens would be represented,” she stressed.
According to Ally, APNU and AFC are calling on the PPP/C Administration to respect the results of the electorate and proceed with the business of governance.
“We condemn the fact that the Administration is attempting to manipulate the committees. Hence, we call on the Administration to illustrate magnanimity by co-operating with the reality,” Ally added.
She noted that APNU acknowledges all historical facts, but the work of Parliament must go on.
Ally stressed that if these committees are non-functional, the work of Parliament would stall.
She explained that in the National Assembly there are several committees including Committee of Privileges and Public Accounts Committee, which have special functions and without their members Parliamentary assignments cannot proceed.
“One such function is to scrutinize and examine the work of Government and if these Committees are not in existence then certainly that would not be possible. We have recently seen the situation with the Auditor General’s report and a very important Committee that examines those reports is the Public Accounts Committee.”