Government and opposition representatives on the Committee of Appointments feel that the June 10 deadline for the establishment of six constitutional commissions, in keeping with a commitment to national stakeholders on crime, will be met.
The three representatives, Gail Teixeira who chairs the committee and PNCR-1G MP Deborah Backer and AFC MP Sheila Holder all told Stabroek News that they have been meeting every Tuesday, with the exception of last week, to discuss and reach consensus on the appointment of the committee. Previously the committee met every fortnight.
Thirty days have passed since the stakeholders met on March 12, 2008 at the Office of the President and agreed for Parliament to expedite the appointment of the six constitutional rights commissions within 90 days.
The decision was taken in the wake of two brutal massacres in which 23 persons were killed at Lusignan and Bartica in a matter of three weeks with the objective of strengthening governance and at the same time matters of security.
The six commissions comprise the five rights commissions, four of which fall under the purview of the Committee of Appointments, and the Procurement Commission which is the responsibility of the Public Accounts Committee.
Meanwhile, the civil society group, the Forum on Solidarity and Effectiveness (FES) has said that to date the parliamentary parties had failed to engage civil society stakeholders in their attempts to resolve differences over amendments to the motion on security proposed to the National Assembly by Prime Minister Sam Hinds on March 27, 2007. The motion followed the stakeholders meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Asked whether the recent impasse would have had a negative effect on the work of the committee and whether it would affect the deadline for the appointment of the committees, Teixeira told Stabroek News that the appointive committee was working very hard to meet the deadline.
Teixeira is of the view that their disagreement on the motion to discuss the crime and security motion in Parliament has not affected the work of the appointive committee or other parliamentary committees as they all continue to meet weekly with all the representatives of the parliamentary parties.
The appointive committee is dealing with the appointment of the Indigenous Peoples Commission, the Women and Gender Commission, the Rights of the Child Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission.
Backer said that the agreement had been reached by national stakeholders and there was no need for Parliament to mandate the committee to carry out its duties.
She feels that apart from the appointive committee doing its work right now, there are two other sets of persons who also need to carry out their duties to ensure that these would be fulfilled.
She said the Public Accounts Committee, which she could not speak for, needs to appoint the procurement commission; and President Bharrat Jagdeo and the Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin must consult on the appointment of a chairman for the Human Rights Commission.
The chairmen of the other commissions are appointed from among members of the commission “other than the members nominated by and from another commission,” using such consensual mechanism as the commission deems fit.
While Backer and Holder could not give details about the work of the appointive committee because of the regulations governing it, they both felt that within a few weeks, the committee would most likely start giving the public some information because stakeholders have been asking questions on the status of the discussions. Unlike some other committees the meetings of the appointive committee are not open to the public.
Big surge
Backer feels that in another few weeks the committee could expect a big surge in activities once “certain things” are agreed on. She said, “We are committed to playing our part to make sure that we make good on our promise to the stakeholders.”
The other members of the appointive committee are Amna Ally, Dr George Norton, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Robert Persaud, Priya Manickchand, Jennifer Webster and Robeson Benn.
Holder told Stabroek News that the members on this committee are very aware of the 90 days deadline but there are issues on which decisions must be taken.
Asked what were the issues that required decisions and whether they had to do with the naming of representatives, Holder said there was some agreement in the naming of representatives but in others there was a stalemate. She would not elaborate.
Compromises
To meet the deadline in the remaining 60 days, she said, compromises would have to be reached. “Somebody has to budge or we would have failed,” she said noting, however, that at the last meeting there was a slight indication that one or two persons might be attempting to cross party lines in wanting to reach agreement.
Asked about the composition of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC), which is not seen as being properly constituted since the President intervened to extend the term of the commissioners, Holder said she believed that matter “was still in limbo.” She would not give further details but asked that this question be put to the leadership of the other political parties. The AFC, she said, was committed to a reasonable compromise on this issue.
She said that she put forward a recommendation for compromise on what she felt was the way forward in breaking the impasse on this issue but she would not go into the details of the recommendation nor the reaction to it. Others, she said, were also concerned about breaking the impasse which she felt was basically between the PPP/C and the PNCR.
Though no one would comment on the state of the ERC, Stabroek News learned that the PNCR-1G is opposed to the Inter-Religious Organi-sation (IRO) headed by the current Chairman of the ERC, Bishop Juan Edghill being a body represented on the ERC. However, some feel that even if the IRO were not represented, Edghill could still be nominated by any of the other Christian religions or even by the non-Christian community.
On the other hand, the government does not want the IRO excluded from the list of representatives on the ERC.
