Parliamentary oversight of Executive

After the 1997 elections were won by the PPP/C, the PNCR used its street power to bludgeon the Janet Jagan government to its knees and extracted constitutional changes via the Herdmanson Accord to increase its powers as the Parliamentary Opposition. A most significant innovation was the formation of four “Sectoral Committees”: (i) natural resources; (ii) economic services; (iii) foreign relations and (iv) social services.
The legislation forming the committees succinctly summaries the panopticonic power of the Committees to scrutinize almost all aspects of the work of the Executive in real time. The PNC had complained that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the Opposition, performed essentially an auditing function, long after objectionable activities would have been completed.
The Terms of Reference are: The committees shall, in the discharge of their scrutinising role, examine all policies and administration, for each sector, to determine whether the execution of government policy is in consonance with the principles of good governance and in the best interest of all the people of Guyana.
The committees shall have the authority to: Determine areas of Government activity for scrutiny or specific examination; Request the Minister assigned responsibility for the sector to submit written or oral information, including government documents and records about any specific area of government policy and administration; Review existing legislation on Government policy and administration for any of the sectors; Summon persons to give evidence, scrutiniseGovernment documents, papers and records; Visit any Government activity or project in Guyana as agreed and arranged by the Committee and In the discharge of their mandate, utilise the services of experts, specialists and other sources of advice as they determine.”
The Chairperson and Deputy are from opposite sides of the Assembly. The Chairs, half of which are from Government and Opposition, are rotated annually while Ministers of the Government barred from being members of the committees. In addition to their MP’s salary, members of the committees are paid a monthly stipend. The Sectoral Committees preclude the Opposition from claiming they are not au fait with governmental actions in any particular area.
Let us take the present Government’s claim that they are unaware of the details of the PetroCaribe rice agreement with Venezuelans. When they were in Parliament, the now Government members could have used the Economic Services Committee to summon the Agriculture Minister, the GRDB, the Finance Minister or any other individual or agency to obtain those details. Their claimed lack of knowledge is the consequence of their lassitude in conducting the necessary investigations.
What makes their claim even more untenable is on obtaining their one-seat parliamentary majority in the 10th Parliament, the then Opposition used that majority to change the composition of the Committees so that they, rather than the Government, occupied the majority of seats in each committee. They insisted that their compositional change only to facilitate a heightened scrutiny of the Government. Their present insistence in changing the legislation back to what prevailed before, suggests that the Government is not comfortable with the more rigorous scrutiny they insisted on subjecting on the PPP Government in the 10th Parliament. This is unfortunate, because with that party obtaining a mere 1% lesser endorsement from the electorate, they can deploy same argument on the need to “ensure the will of the people” be exercised.
However, when the PPP enters Parliament, as they have signaled they will do soon, the Sectoral Committees present them with the wherewithal for holding the new Government’s feet to the fire on any number of their “excesses” that are presently alleged – from firings to audits. The opportunity is also presented for their younger MP’s to be “blooded” in the examination of the mechanisms and processes of governance. That the media can be invited to Committee hearings, will ensure the populace is informed as to who are actually working in their interests. Let democracy blossom.