Non-functioning of parliamentary committees preventing scrutiny of gov’t - AFC
With the National Assembly slated to meet on Monday, following its two-month annual recess, the Alliance For Change (AFC) has said parliamentary scrutiny of government is being hamstrung by the non-functioning of key committees, some of which have yet to be convened after two years.
The situation was highlighted at the party’s weekly press conference on Friday.
AFC Vice President Cathy Hughes said that it is concerned regarding the operations, independence, and spirit of the Twelfth Parliament. She noted that those concerns have been raised before but it is vitally necessary to put back on the table the issues that hinder the work of the Parliament. Hughes added that they are hoping that by raising the issues, there will be moves to make the Parliament more effective and efficient.
“Despite the rancour that permeates the discussions of the House, there continue to be some unresolved deficiencies and we lament that their mere existence suggests that the Speaker is unwilling to tackle these defects,” she lamented.
The AFC said that the functioning of Parliamentary Committees is the foundation of facilitating scrutiny of all areas of government policy and administration.
At Friday’s press conference, Hughes highlighted that it is through those Parliamentary Committees that the guarantee of equal participation can be achieved. She noted that the committees discuss issues of national importance, facilitate robust debates and most importantly strive to achieve consensus on national issues in the best interest of the country.
“Given this laudable expectation, we find it reprehensible and unacceptable that several parliamentary sectorial committees are comatose or have never seen the light of day more than two years later. At the most critical time in this nation’s history, at a time when we face a rapidly developing oil and gas sector, one which is currently plagued by a lack of transparency in the publishing of government contracts and feasibility studies, the Natural Resources committee has never met.
“With our border dispute case in the International Court of Justice – the foreign relations committee has never met. With rapidly increasing crime – a possible response to the high cost of living- the security sector committee has never met and the economic service committee has been waiting since March to resume under a new chair after rotation. The fact that the Speaker has been too busy with his many various overseas trips to deal with these serious transgressions and get his real work done - is alarming and most unfortunate,” she pointed out.
Hughes said that Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir has been on a quest to virtually silence the Opposition by means of denying or gutting their motions and questions. She pointed out that priority motions such as the ones on the high cost of living, massive flooding and the resulting loss of income and damage to property of ordinary Guyanese - are struck out and not allowed to be discussed by the very persons elected to represent the people of Guyana.
“Questions to the House continue to be butchered not edited and often lack a timely response. All this is in addition to the infrequent sittings which indirectly silence debate on important issues, for example, private members’ day – which occurs every 4th sitting when opposition issues are examined can take months now to come around. The subjective way issues are dealt with continues to suggest bias,” she said.
The Opposition, since the commencement of the Twelfth Parliament under the Speakership of Nadir, has been complaining of being sidelined and virtually ignored by the Speaker. They have called for his resignation on multiple occasions and even submitted a motion of no confidence against him.