The National Assembly is still not autonomous in terms of staffing and budget in keeping with constitutional provisions, and a special parliamentary select committee has been appointed to look at the issue of staffing.
In an interview on Friday, Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran told Stabroek News that ensuring the autonomy of the National Assembly was one of the major recommendations of the Sir Michael Davies, Pender and World Bank studies conducted during the seventh and eighth parliaments.
Autonomy has to be in keeping with constitutional provisions respecting the separation of powers in which the three branches of government are independent of each other,
The reports, he said, recommended the autonomy of parliament as is the case with most other parliaments in the world.
At present, the executive controls the staffing and the budget, he said, adding that the staff were public servants and the budget like that of any other government department. Owing to this, parliament was not free to hire or fire anyone as might be necessary.
Once staffing had been addressed, he said, the issue of budgeting would follow, noting that there was a precedent in the example of the Auditor General’s Office.
Meanwhile, Ramkarran said the Parliament Office was in the process of establishing its own public relations (PR) department to highlight the work of the National Assembly and for public awareness as to what went on in the parliamentary committees.
He said approval had been given for the establishment of the PR department and some resources had been made available. It was now up to Parliament to advertise the positions available and to find the people who would work for the money available. “We are going to advertise very shortly,” he said.
He said that at present the focus was on developing the capacity of the Parliament Office to handle the volume of work it was given and to develop the capacity of the members of parliament (MPs) and the workings of the parliamentary committees.
Since the constitutional reform process ended in 2001 with the passage of the relevant laws, a lot of work had been stymied, he said, because of the boycott of Parliament by the main opposition, PNCR.
However, all of the parliamentary committees had since been established and were functioning.
Recommendations of the Davies, Pender and World Bank reports, he said, had resulted in the review of the parliamentary standing orders in the last parliament. (Miranda La Rose)
