Parliament should await court ruling before setting up committees - Prime Minister - Gov’t to withhold input in Parliament if request not heeded
Georgetown, GINA, March 16, 2012
Prime Minister and Leader of the Government side of the House, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds today sent a letter to Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman requesting him to suspend further meetings to set up committees in deference to the proceedings being played out in the High Court; failing which it will be obliged to withhold its participation in the House.
The Prime Minister made this disclosure at a press conference of which Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira were also a part at the Office of the President.
At the March 15 sitting of the National Assembly, Government deferred its Motion on the composition of the Committee of Selection in light of the move to the High Court to address a number of matters on the application of the clauses in the constitution that were relevant to the makeup of the committees.
Government was invited to a meeting this afternoon to discuss and elect chairpersons to the various committees including the four sectoral committees; however, it does not deem this arrangement to be correct.
The Prime Minister’s letter to the Speaker stated that the Motion that was moved by the Opposition before the closing of last evening’s sitting to enable them to bring the Motions on March 21 to amend the Standing Orders with regards to the size and composition of the parliamentary management committee and the four sectoral committees, not only flies in the face of the matter before the High Court but, also Standing Order 26 (G).
Government’s position to withhold its participation in the Parliament if this request is denied, Prime Minister Hinds said is consistent with the position that led to the deferral of its Motion at the March 15 sitting.
In the letter, the Prime Minister urged the Speaker to “uphold the constitution and the law in this Tenth Parliament and prevent the House from being in contempt of the High Court.”
“Our position is that until the matter in the High Court is determined, we should not proceed with any arrangements to set up these committees,” PM Hinds said.
Standing Order 94 states that every select committee shall be so constituted so as to ensure as far as possible, that the balance of Parties is reflected.
In the November 28 general and regional elections, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won 49.23 percent of the votes, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) - 40 percent, and Alliance for Change (AFC)-10.76 percent.
“With those percentages being received by the different Parties at the last elections, that the makeup of the Committees should reflect as closely as possible, that ratio,” the Prime Minister said.
On February 10, the two Parliamentary Opposition Parties teamed up to seize control of the Committee of Selection; voting against Government’s proposal of 10 members (5-PPP/C, 4-APNU, 1-AFC) and adopting a disproportional nine-member distribution (PPP/C-4, APNU-4, AFC-1).
“This four-four certainly does not reflect 49 and 40 percent…the committee of 10 allows for a better reflection of the votes received by the various Parties and the number of seats they have in Parliament and it is quite proper for the court to make a ruling, taking into account the relevant laws of our constitution…and we think that the Speaker and other members of the Parliament should await that ruling before proceeding further to set up those committees,” the Prime minister reiterated.