Speaker Ralph Ramkarran on Thursday warned the National Assembly about the impact of continued deferrals on the conclusion of crucial parliamentary business.
“The deferral of business at this time is not conducive to the timely conclusion of the business which government may wish to have come,” Ramkarran told Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, after two government-sponsored bills and an opposition motion were postponed at Thursday’s sitting. “We have to ensure that the schedule- of which I am not privy- is so designed to accommodate all the outstanding business that the government wishes to pursue in that time,” he added.
Ramkarran noted that it had been publicised in the press that there is legislation that would require urgent attention, alluding to crucial local government bills currently under review by a special select committee. In this regard, he reminded Hinds that parliament would be sitting until August 10, when it will go into recess.
Hinds, the leader of the government benches, thanked the Speaker for putting both sides of the House on notice that there is work to be completed before the recess.
The Leader of the Opposition (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill 2009 and the Summary Jurisdiction (Lay Magistrates) Bill 2009 were both deferred on a request by the government on Thursday.
In the former instance, Prime Minister Hinds requested that the bill be deferred again, telling the House that the Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh, who tabled the legislation, was away on government business. Ramkarran asked Hinds whether the government was certain that it wanted to proceed with the bill, since it had been deferred on several occasions already.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Charles Ramson requested the deferral of the Lay Magistrates Bill, explaining that both sides of the House agreed to a postponement. He, however, indicated that he was prepared to pilot the Bill through its final stages.
Also deferred was a motion in the name of AFC MPs Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan that urges the government to take all diplomatic and legal efforts possible to protect the rights of Guyanese nationals in Barbados and other Caricom states, ensuring there is no discrimination on the basis of nationality. The Bill was tabled in light of the recent crackdown by the Barbados government on undocumented Caricom nationals living on the island, which has seen Guyanese nationals being targeted for deportation.
Trotman said he had understood that the motion would be dealt with at a Private Members’ sitting of the Assembly.
Meanwhile, at Thursday’s sitting two bills, the Administration of Justice Bill 2009 and the Bill of Sale (Amendment) Bill were both passed with support from both the government and opposition.
The former bill seeks to amend the Summary Jurisdiction (Petty Debt) Act to extend civil jurisdiction to members of the magistracy by increasing the limit of money claims in the lower court from $50,000 to $100,000, while the latter seeks to amend the Bill of Sale Act (Cap.90:12) to remove the requirement for the annual renewal of bills of sale and substitute the requirement of renewal to every three years instead.
