Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran says that an investigation into allegations by AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan that the Parliamentary Hansard of a recent contentious sitting had been tampered with, have proven otherwise.
Ramjattan’s allegations were reported in yesterday’s edition of the Kaieteur News in an article captioned Parliamentary Records tampered with-Ramjattan. In that article, Ramjattan alleged that the answer which was given by Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali to a question asked by Alliance For Change co-Vice Chairperson Sheila Holder during the January 11 debate on Financial Paper #6 was not accurate. The Minis-ter was on that occasion grilled about an additional sum of $4 billion being sought for works in the Hous-ing Sector. The Hansard is a verbatim account of what is said in the National Assembly.
The article quoted Ramjattan as saying that the words attributed to the Housing Minister were “we are ready” when it should have been “we have spent it already.” Ramjattan said he had been reliably informed that the Hansard had been tampered with. “What I feared will happen with the Hansard when it was not forthcoming in the usual seven to 10 days has actually happened now that it has taken some 40 days for compilation,” Ramjattan was reported as saying by KN. The AFC Chairman said he had asked the Speaker of the National Assembly to investigate the matter.
However, at yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly, the Speaker said he was disappointed that Ramjattan had gone public with these serious allegations before the investigation had been completed. The AFC MP had not yet arrived at yesterday’s sitting when the Speaker addressed the matter.
The Speaker said that the AFC MP had expressed his concerns to him (Ramkarran) on Monday and he said he ordered the Clerk of the House to launch an investigation. Ramkarran said that the investigations revealed that the audio recording of that sitting corresponds to what was reported in the Hansard.
Ramkarran then ordered that the audio recording be replayed and this confirmed that Ali had indeed said “we are ready” when he was asked by Holder how soon the Minister could spend the $4 billion.
The Speaker then said he has urged the Clerk to ensure that Ramjattan receives a copy of the audio recording, after which he expects Ramjattan to make appropriate comments in the House. Ramkarran disclosed he had also issued instructions for copies of the audio recording and the transcript of the January 11 Parliamentary session to be sent to the Kaieteur News. He also called on the newspaper to take appropriate action. The Speaker said that the allegations carried in the KN had caused great pain to the committed staff of the Parliament Office. He said that he looked forward to statements by the MP and the Kaieteur News to alleviate the pain.
When approached yesterday during a break in the Parliamentary proceedings Ramjattan was not deterred by the Speaker’s reprimand. He said he had told Kaieteur News that either the Hansard had been tampered with or that the Minister had been misleading the House. “I’m going to prove tomorrow (today) in my cross-examination of the Minister that he has already spent the $4 billion in 2009”, Ramjattan said. According to him, this expenditure was reflected in this year’s estimates which are currently being considered in the House. He said that if the Hansard had not been tampered with, Ali will have to say why he misled to the House on the matter.