President Donald Ramotar has proposed that a team of technical specialists make a presentation on the Amaila Falls Hydro Project to the plenary of the tripartite talks in response to proposals from the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) for scrutiny of major projects.
This is according to the joint statement emanating from the latest tripartite meeting held on Tuesday among the Government, APNU and the AFC.
The statement released last evening said that this presentation to the plenary is tentatively scheduled for February 15, 2012. At this session, the AFC and APNU will also present their positions on the reform of the Guyana Elections Commission. In the aftermath of the November 28 general elections both opposition parties have signalled their determination for change at GECOM.
“With regard to the review of major projects as proposed by both AFC and APNU, namely scrutiny at the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services as proposed by the AFC, or a task force as proposed by APNU, the President offered an extra-parliamentary alternative,” the statement said. He put forward that the technical specialists associated with the project would be prepared to make a presentation to the plenary. It is yet unclear who these specialists are.
“Following this the plenary would discuss the next or any course of action,” the statement said, adding that the AFC and APNU agreed to this proposal without prejudice to any other action. “They also agreed to separately indicate in priority order any other projects they wished to review at the plenary,” the statement said.
Further, at the Tuesday meeting, the parties named their representatives to the three inter-parliamentary committees namely Governance (non-parliamentary), Parliament/Constitution and Economic (excluding Budget).
For the Governance (non-parliamentary) these were Dr. Roger Luncheon and Minister Clement Rohee for the Government; Deborah Backer and E. Lance Carberry for APNU; and Clayton Hall and Cathy Hughes for the AFC.
For the committee on Parliament/Constitution, Government named Gail Teixeira and Dr. Leslie Ramsammy; the APNU named Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and Haslyn Parris; while the AFC named Moses Nagamootoo and Nigel Hughes.
For the Economic committee (excluding Budget) – it was Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and Minister Irfaan Ali for the Government; Carl Greenidge and Winston Jordan for the APNU; and Khemraj Ramjattan and Gerhard Ramsaroop for the AFC.
“It was agreed that all the members of these three committees will meet on Monday, February 13, 2012 to work out their modalities,” the statement said.
With regard to the Budget Consultation, the parties agreed that Dr. Luncheon would consult with Minister Singh on holding a meeting this week and inform the identified representatives accordingly.
With regard to the size and composition of the Parliamentary Committee of Selection, which is chaired by the Speaker and which is listed for election at today’s sitting, the parties could not reach agreement, the statement said.
“This item was not concluded due to differing views, namely the Government preferred a 10 member committee with 5 members for the Government, 4 for APNU and 1 for the AFC. The APNU and AFC preferred a 9 member committee with 4 members for the Government, 4 for APNU and 1 for AFC,” the statement said. This committee is crucial as it presides over the composing of the other committees of Parliament and ultimately which side of the House controls them.
The parties also discussed the state of cricket administration with regard to the impasse between the Interim Management Committee and the Guyana Cricket Board. “This item provoked a long discussion in which a number of issues were discussed including the need to have the constitution of the GCB completed with some alacrity. The President indicated his desire to have this issue resolved as soon as possible,” the statement said.
According to the statement, the parties expressed the view that a comprehensive act of Parliament was needed to establish a legal framework for ensuring the integrity, transparency, independence and administration of all sport, not only cricket. “However, exigencies of time [have] made a separate bill on the administration of cricket desirable,” the statement said.
With regard to the appointment of members to State Boards, the President reiterated that the state boards were extended up to March 31, 2012 “to allow time to consider and consult on their membership.” The statement said that Dr. Luncheon committed to sharing a list of state boards with Granger and Ramjattan.
