Former health minister and PNC parliamentarian Dr Richard Van West Charles yesterday handed over copies of parliamentary records dating back to the 1950s and 60s to Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran.
The records, which were placed on compact discs (CDs), cover the period from January to December 1962 as well as that of November 1959, Ramkarran disclosed.
During a simple ceremony which was held at Public Buildings, Van West Charles disclosed that he had received the information from one of his colleagues, Jeffrey Thomas, and decided to make copies of it for the National Assembly. He said the purpose of the donation was to ensure that persons had access to information, since knowledge is critical to development. According to him, “any democracy that is going to be built, the critical pillar is access to information by the citizenry of the country”.
He said the records would serve as useful resource information for parliamentarians so that they can learn from past debates. During his discourse, Van West Charles subtly criticized the current efforts of the PNCR-1G as a parliamentary opposition. “For me as a member of the PNC, I’m also interested if the People National Congress’ parliamentarians can come and review… in 62, the PNC was in the opposition for example, so they can see how the PNC parliamentarians really conducted business and represented the issues of the people.”
Meanwhile, he added that young citizens; including students at the secondary and tertiary levels could benefit from the recent donations.
Ramkarran, in expressing his gratitude for the donation, noted that the year 1962 was an important period in the country’s political history. He said that this information would serve to provide more details as to the prevailing circumstances at that time. The speaker said that work was currently ongoing on developing parliament’s website and this information will be placed on the website. According to him, during the recent Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference held in India, the issue of the use of technology was one of the topics discussed in detail.
Van West Charles served as a member of the parliament between the years 1980 and 1987 when the PNCR was in government. While serving as the Minister of Health he also had responsibility for Water, Housing and the Environment. He was the minister responsible for Medical Education, Food Policy and was the Chair of the Civil Defence Commission.