The National Assembly’s Standing Orders Committee has recommended the removal of the voting privilege of a non-elected member of parliament on a committee but provides for a party to nominate an elected member to vote in that member’s stead.
“Unless otherwise provided for in these Standing Orders, any member of the assembly, whether elected or non-elected, shall be eligible for membership of any committee, providing that a non-elected member shall not have the right to vote therein; and the party with a non-elected member shall nominate an additional elected member to preserve the voting strength of the parties in the committee,” the amendment agreed to by the committee, said. The amendment covers Standing Orders 80(5), 88(2) and 93(2).
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian, Basil Williams on March 19 had moved a motion in the National Assembly seeking to amend those Standing Orders. Those rules had allowed non-elected members to vote in committees. Williams’ amendment sought to ensure that only an elected member of the assembly shall have the right to vote in any Standing Committee, Select Commit-tee, and Special Select Com-mittee.
The report of the Standing Orders Committee was presented to the National Assembly on Thursday. The committee agreed on July 4 that the amendments for Standing Orders 80(5), 88(2) and 93(2) would be presented to the Assembly.
APNU’s Dr Rupert Roopnaraine had also moved a motion to amend Standing Order No 85 (2) to provide that the composition of the Parliamentary Management Committee (PMC) shall be nine members and that representation of the nine-member PMC shall be determined in accordance with the seat allocation to the political parties in the Assembly.
Standing Order No 85 (2) provides that the PMC shall comprise ten members with five representing the government and five representing the opposition. Roopnaraine’s motion said that the provision could lead to gridlock and impasse in the work of the PMC, and his amendment sought to reduce the committee’s ten members to nine with four representing the government and five representing the opposition.
APNU parliamentarian, Joseph Harmon, had also moved a motion to amend Standing Order No 86(2) to read that representation on the Sectoral Committees should be calculated in accordance with the seat allocation to the political parties in the tenth parliament. His motion sought to defer the constitution of the four Sectoral Committees until and unless representation was calculated in accordance with the seat allocation to the political parties in the tenth parliament.
Currently, Standing Order No 86(2) provides that each Sectoral Committee shall consist of seven members with four representing the government and three, the opposition.
The committee has agreed that Standing Order No 85 (2) and Standing Order No 86(2) would be recommitted for further discussion.
Some of the opposition amendments have been opposed by the government. Former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran called the attempt to change the composition of the PMC a backwards step and asked the opposition to reconsider the move since it threatens consensus building.
