Leading opposition members do not agree that it was necessary to forego the parliamentary recess to address a number of outstanding national issues.
APNU MP and Shadow Finance Minister Carl Greenidge said that forgoing the recess, which commenced on August 10 and will last until October, would have been possible were there an ideal situation in terms of resources available, especially to the opposition benches.
Observers have pointed out that with the great number of outstanding motions and legislation to be addressed by the House, the recess should have been foregone to allow the parliamentarians to deliberate and get on with the nation’s business.
Greenidge told Stabroek News yesterday that it is not time but the attitude of the government that is the concern to him. He said that the government’s decision against withholding assistance from the opposition with the drafting of Bills is one example of the administration’s efforts to frustrate the work of the opposition groups, APNU and AFC, in parliament. “It is not the number of sittings but the attitude of the government and the capacity of the opposition to press them,” he said, pointing to the need for help in drafting legislation and the fact that this is not forthcoming from the government.
“Part of the problem is that APNU faces a need for drafting support. Although we have a number of lawyers, many of them do not have drafting ability because this is a special area of expertise,” he explained.
Greenidge said that in many parliamentary systems, the parliamentary counsels are there for the purposes of helping with drafting legislation. He said that the lack of support in this area slows down the rate at which the opposition can bring legislation to the House.
“The Parliament is really still not a place that is either geared or organised to have full time parliamentarians for the amount of work the opposition had hoped to get through. There should be more support for parliamentarians,” he said.
Greenidge pointed to the fact that many of the parliamentarians work in various vocations, since it is clear that their parliamentary salaries is sufficient “for the purchase of gas” to visit constituents.
“The government’s strategy has been to frustrate the opposition by stretching out the period between sittings and forcing a situation where discussion of opposition matters is done in a rush,” he further said. “The distances between sittings are unnecessarily long and this benefits the government,” he argued. He added that the government would then throw in as many speakers as possible in a debate to squeeze out the opposition’s views.
With regards to the constant criticism that MPs do nothing, Greenidge said that people are overestimating the extent of what the opposition can do in the House. “The opposition’s capacity in the Parliament is limited because it is unable to propose measures to spend,” he said.
Leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan said that because of the recess, members from his party have arranged their vacation and other activities accordingly. “We have to be in Parliament because of the narrow margin and it is an extra strain to be there and not be able to go out on vacation,” he said, when asked if foregoing the parliamentary recess had been considered.
Ramjattan added that because of the amount of work that had already been done, the recess was a welcome respite, not only for the purpose of vacation but to allow MPs to engage in activities related to their individual professions.
“I, for one, would not want the recess to be interrupted unless it is to [engage in something related to a national emergency],” Ramjattan said. “I do not see the necessity of reconfiguring the recess at all. It is a lot of work that we do in Parliament,” he added.
Ramjattan also felt that the public is sometimes misinformed about the work that parliamentarians do, while noting that it entails a lot of research and not just standing up and speaking. Nevertheless, he said that the party may be introducing assessment cards for the party to assess the contribution that members make in the House, such as what questions they asked, what contribution they made to debates, what letters they wrote to Ministers on behalf of their constituents. This, he said, will help the public to appreciate the work of the parliamentarians.
