President dismisses Speaker’s challenge to his authority – says he is within his right to call sitting of Parliament

IN an unprecedented move, Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Raphael Trotman, has challenged President Donald Ramotar’s authority to call a sitting of the National Assembly, saying Mr. Ramotar has no “constitutional right” to do so.

Trotman’s challenge was, however, dismissed by President Ramotar who, in an invited telephone comment to this newspaper last night, said it would seem Trotman does not know what he is talking about as he is well within his right to call a sitting of the Parliament

Mr. Ramotar, the Head of Parliament, last week, directed that steps be taken to convene a sitting of the National Assembly within the next 14 days, and on Tuesday evening, in an address to the nation, he disclosed that Monday November 10 would be the date for the next sitting.

There have been disagreements between the Speaker and the Government over who has the authority to call a sitting.

Raphael Trotman

The House has not met since it came out of recess on October 10, and prior to going into its annual two-month recess on August 10, there had been no sitting since July 10.
The Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs has maintained that the power to call a sitting under these circumstances lies with the Government – a position he and Trotman also differ on. The Clerk has also been backed up by the former Clerk, Mr. Frank Narain, in his pronouncement that, under the current circumstances, it is the Government’s call to name a date for a sitting.
Meanwhile, the Government’s Chief Whip, Ms. Gail Teixeira, in an invited comment, told the Guyana Chronicle that the President is well within his right as Head of Parliament to call a sitting.
“Myself and the Leader of the House, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, are fully cognisant of the President’s announcement of the date for the sitting and, as the Head of the Parliament, the President is in order to announce a date. As such, myself and Mr. Hinds have put in place all the normal modalities in preparation for a sitting,” she said.

THE PM’S FUNCTION

Trotman, in a statement released yesterday, said, “The annual recess that runs from August 10 – October 10 is not to be confused with a prorogation or suspension of the Parliament.
“Therefore, as Speaker of the National Assembly, I continue to insist that it was beyond the scope of the President’s constitutional authority to set a date for the House to resume sittings after the recess.”
According to the Speaker, the President is not a member of the National Assembly and, as such, the pronouncement should have been made by the Prime Minister, who is the Leader of Government’s business in the National Assembly.
Trotman said, “What has not been the practice and tradition is for the President to announce when the House will resume sittings after the annual recess.”
The Speaker, also an Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive, also stated that the President has been ill-advised in moving to call a sitting.
“This is as frightening as it is tragic, as it clearly demonstrates that there is not even the basic of understanding by those who advise the President, of the three branches of Government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial, and the hallowed doctrine of the separation of powers,” he said.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Additionally, political observers contend that Trotman’s objections are a clear case of ‘much ado about nothing’, particularly since the Standing Orders, which guide the House’s proceedings, are clear.
There have been calls on the Government, which the President heads, from several sections of society in the last three weeks for a sitting to be called.
This fact has been noted by Mr. Ramotar who, in prior comments, highlighted that not having an immediate sitting after the recess is not a strange occurrence.
“They behave as if this is something strange that the recess ended in October and the Parliament has not met as yet. For years the Parliament was called in November. There are previous years that you can go to and see, historically, that the Parliament was called later than they are talking about,” he said last Wednesday, at a public forum.
This fact was confirmed by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs. “This is not new, not as far as I am aware,” he told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday.
Also, a distinction that is sometimes forgotten is that the National Assembly is made up of the 65 Members of Parliament (MP) from the elected political parties, while the Parliament is a combination of the National Assembly’s 65 representatives and the President.
Notable, too, is the fact that the Clerk of the National Assembly, since the President’s announcement, has gone ahead with preparations for a sitting and notices have gone out to all MPs, in addition to the Order Paper, the agenda, for the sitting on Monday.