SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr. Raphael Trotman, has proposed November 6, 2014 as the date for the next sitting of the House.

This disclosure was made in a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs, which was copied to the House’s Chief Whips – A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Amna Ally and Government’s Gail Teixeira. A similar letter has also been sent to the Leader of Government’s Business, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds; Leader of the Opposition, Brig. (rtd.) David A. Granger; and Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan.

The letter was sent to the various parties yesterday.

SPEAKER’S RESPONSIBILITY
House Speaker, Raphael Trotman is of the firm belief that at the last sitting of the House, on July 10, the fact that the House was adjourned to meet on a “date to be fixed” was an erroneous move. He has, however, accepted responsibility for this error.

“I am firmly of the belief that when in fact, on July 10, 2014, the House adjourned to a “date to be fixed”, this was done in error, as a date should have been fixed. And for that I take full responsibility,” he said.

The Speaker added that an “open-ended adjournment” is tantamount to a violation of the constitutional mandate for the National Assembly to meet day by day.

“Recent communication with the Whips and pronouncements in the media attributed to both clearly lend to the view that the positions are intractable and that the likelihood of a date been agreed upon soon is unlikely. There is gridlock, and we are faced with the untenable and unhealthy situation of the National Assembly not meeting since July 10, 2014.” – House Speaker, Mr. Raphael Trotman

He said, “In any event, I am also of the opinion that the adjournment to ‘a date to be fixed’ was superseded by the event of the House entering into the annual recess on August 10, 2014.

“The next day on which the House should have met should have been Monday, October 13, 2014, as October 12, 2014 was a Sunday,” Trotman declared. He also stated that no direction from the Government or the Speaker is required to reconvene the sittings in this regard.

“Indeed, to support this view, Committee meetings have resumed without an instruction or direction having to be given. Further, when His Excellency issued the proclamation for the 10th Parliament to be summoned and to commence sittings, it was your office that convened the sittings then and every time thereafter,” he said.

On these grounds, the Speaker formally requested that the Clerk makes arrangements for a sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday, November 6, 2014.

“This date will provide for the normal notice period for Members of Parliament to be notified,” he said.

Additionally, in terms of the Order Paper for the sitting, Trotman expressed the view that the agenda as of July 10, 2014 is the agenda that the House should resume with, together with any additional matters that have arisen during the recess, and subject, of course, to the requisite period of notice being observed.

ADVICE
He also referred to the advice he had received from the Clerk of the National Assembly as well as former House Speakers.

“I have received opinions from your good self (Mr. Sherlock Isaacs), and Messrs. Sase Narine, O.R., S.C., and Ralph Ramkarran, S.C. With regard to your opinion on the applicability of Standing Order 8 (2), I am in fact in complete agreement with it,” he said.

The above notwithstanding, Trotman has maintained his stance on the call for a sitting on the grounds he cited.

WHIPS’ AGREEMENT
The fact that the Parliamentary Management Committee has committed to allowing the Chief Whips to settle on a date for a sitting of the National Assembly was also cited by the Speaker.

Trotman said, “Notwithstanding the process in which the Whips were involved, I chose to engage you and the former Speakers of the National Assembly with a view to enquiring how best we can have the sittings resumed.

“…recent communication with the Whips and pronouncements in the media attributed to both clearly lend to the view that the positions are intractable and that the likelihood of a date being agreed upon soon is unlikely. There is gridlock, and we are faced with the untenable and unhealthy situation of the National Assembly not meeting since July 10, 2014,” Trotman said.

He highlighted that the status quo cannot be allowed to continue since there is no state of national emergency, or otherwise, that prevents the Assembly from not meeting.

“In fact, on the contrary, I make bold to say that there are myriad issues of national import that require our immediate attention. With that said, this cannot mean that the National Assembly cannot be convened unless by agreement or indication from the Government; especially where such agreement appears elusive to even impossible,” he said.

To this end, he reminded that he has “found favour” with the opinion rendered by the former Speakers of the National Assembly, which in effect states that the National Assembly shall meet “day by day”, unless otherwise decided by the National Assembly; and that as the Assembly automatically went into recess on August 10, 2014, so too did it automatically come out of recess on October 10, 2014.

Therefore, the House should have been convened forthwith on the first working day thereafter.

“This opinion in fact supports one that I rendered in a Ruling, No. 4 of 2012, in which it was stated: ‘Once the President issues a Proclamation to summon Parliament under the powers of Article 69 of the Constitution, the presumption is that the National Assembly will sit every day (except Saturdays and Sundays) after the day of its first sitting. However, a Minister may move a motion for resolution by the Assembly that the “next day” not be the day immediately following,” the House Speaker concluded.

Several attempts by the Guyana Chronicle to contact the Chief Whips for a comment on the Speaker’s expressed position proved futile.

(By Vanessa Narine) Chronicle