– still a lot of work to be done
Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran says parliamentary reform has been yielding greater political cooperation, although there remains a great deal of work to be done.
Ramkarran noted that reforms have particularly enhanced the work of select committees, where there is a far greater capacity for cooperation and consensus among political parties.
For almost three years, the National Assembly has been engaged in implementing reforms. These include recommendations contained in a 2005 Needs Assessment conducted by Commonwealth Parliamentary Staff Advisor Sir Michael Davies as well as those contained in the 2005 Guyana Fiduciary Oversight Report done by Bradford and Associates for the World Bank. The approved reforms were adopted along with other recommendations compiled by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which has funded implementation under a US$600,000 programme for the strengthening of the Parliament. Further, the Parliamentary Management Committee (PMC) has approved a strategic plan for the Parliament that was prepared under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and partially funded under the Fiscal and Financial Management Programme (FFMP). A part of the plan, dealing with proposals for the budgetary and staffing autonomy of the Parliament Office, is awaiting the completion of the work of a Special Select Committee.
In his report, Sir Michael Davies had noted that his recommendations were intended to effect changes to enable the National Assembly to become the principal institution for political dialogue. He found that although the Parliament was recognised as paramount in the Constitution, it was not playing its proper role in governance. He cited the lack of independence of the Parliament and its management from the control of the executive among his findings as well as a committee system that was not functioning. In particular, he recommended that committees should be given work on a much more regular basis, choosing subjects for inquiry which are focused and capable of being completed within two to three months. Further, he said committees should recognise that they were bodies in which party differences should be largely forgotten.
“The atmosphere has been transformed,” Ramkarran said of the ongoing reforms in a recent interview with Stabroek News, noting that more bills are going to Special Select Committees while the Standing Committee system is becoming more effective. “This is what is facilitating the better functioning of Parliament and strengthening its capacity as a place where a continuing political dialogue can take place fruitfully.”
Success
A recent example of the success of dialogue at the parliamentary level, according to Ramkarran, was the political consensus reached on the passage of a motion directing the Economic Services Committee to monitor the developments at CLICO (Guyana), while guaranteeing the savings of policy holders and other investors. The motion, in the name of PNCR-1G leader Robert Corbin and seconded by PNCR-1G MP Winston Murray, also resolved to call on the government to take all necessary steps to ensure that there would be no financial loss to any policyholder or depositor in CLICO (Guyana) and to secure investments made by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) in CLICO (Guyana) on behalf of contributors. It was passed with support by the governing PPP/C as well as the AFC and GAP-ROAR.
According to Ramkarran, reaching agreement on the motion was difficult, given the sharp differences between the government and opposition parties. He explained that while there were discussions on the motion to ensure it did not breach any rules, there were simultaneous talks ongoing between government and the opposition on the resolutions. “Now, it was very tough bargaining, I understand,” he said, “but eventually they came to an agreement on a matter where there is still significant difference.”
At the same time, he noted that while there has been progress, it is a slow process that still requires a great deal of work. Ramkarran also pointed out that like in every other country, the success of political dialogue would be subject to sharp political differences between the parties. Further, he pointed out that political differences have the added dimension of the historical association made between two large majorities of the population and two political parties.
Reacting to the concern about the majority having the final say, he noted that it is no different in other Westminster-type parliaments where the executive sits and the governing party holds the majority. He added that there is a little more flexibility in developed countries like the UK, where some MPs choose to vote against party lines under constituency systems. “But I find wherever a Bill goes to Select Committee, there is a far greater capacity for cooperation and consensus and that should be done more often,” he said.
Recall legislation
Asked whether in that context, the enactment of recall legislation could be seen as a backward step since it entrenches voting along party lines, Ramkarran indicated that the law was oriented towards the current electoral system, which provides for Members of Parliament (MPs) who are selected from party lists by their respective leadership. “What happens in the case of an MP who is selected by his party leadership?” he asked. “He is not selected by a constituency -whether right or wrong that is the system we have.” He added that it is unlikely that the decision on the selection of the MP list would be made arbitrarily by any individual leader. Rather, he said, the process extended to the ground and great care is taken to ensure the list is representative. “At the end of the day, there must be a mechanism for when one member says I no longer support the party,” he said. “How can you have within your ranks a member who you put there, who says that he no longer supports your party?”
Ramkarran said that there was a vast number of countries with recall legislation, adding it was nothing unusual.
He also felt that the parliament would be a useful forum to some extent for actualising Article 13, which provides for increasing participation of citizens and civil society organisations in the decision-making process of the state. He noted that the committee system, in particular, is oriented to encourage public participation, through the holding of public hearings. He added that his call for some full-time MPs could see more work being done. Ramkarran explained that while some committees are functioning okay, others are not, adding that it depended on the workload of the chairperson. He noted that committees suffer when chairpersons have to manage a large workload. A permanent full-time chair and staff, he said, would enhance the work of the committees, especially since the facilities are now in place to support them.
Sir Michael had also noted the need to improve relations with all sections of civil society and the private sector and to take steps to facilitate access to information about the work of the National Assembly.
“The relationship between the Parliament and civil society and private sector is not as it should be,” Ramkarran acknowledged, adding that there is need to meet various sections of the society to explain Parliament’s work and show how they can help each other. He said there is a lot of work that will be done, targeting schools, NGOs, the business community, trade unions and service organisations.
He noted that just recently a public relations officer was hired for the National Assembly and tasked with publicising its work and generating greater public interest. Asked whether the National Assembly is considering broadcasting its proceedings either by radio or through the internet, he admitted that it is not being explored. Though he indicated an interest in radio broadcasting, he said the National Assembly is engaged in a tremendous amount of work and does not have the capacity. He said it is currently in the midst of setting up a Hansard Department, through which it hoped to get Hansards to MPs within a maximum of four weeks. He said the possibility of producing them in electronic form is also being pursued as is updating and archiving on the Parliament’s website. Responding to the question of whether the public is interested in the work of the Parliament, Ramkarran said “It’s not whether the public is interested; that’s not the criteria—it’s not a question of how many people are interested, it’s a question of what the parliament needs to do to have its business in the public domain.”