With both government and opposition MPs absent yesterday, a motion by the opposition to establish the independence of the Parliament Office was stalled.
After a vote of proclamation at the end of the debate, a division was called for and the result was a vote of 31 to 31, owing to the absence of the members Dawn Hastings of APNU, Cathy Hughes of the AFC and Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett from the government’s side.
The motion, by AFC MP Khemraj Ramjattan, had called for the House to move that a Special Select Committee examine recommendations for the independence of the National Assembly on the steps to be undertaken to enable the Clerk to become the employing authority of the staff of the Parliament Office.
The motion cited the Needs Assessment of the National Assembly as contained in the Report of the Commonwealth Senior Parliamentary Staff Advisor Sir Michael Davies to the National Assembly, of February 2005, which recommended, inter alia, that the National Assembly should be given much greater independence in respect of its own budget. It noted that systems should be established within the Parliament Office to undertake the estimating, monitoring, controlling and accounting for the Assembly’s expenditure.
The motion said too that the Clerk of the National Assembly should become the employer of all staff of the Parliament Office and that a larger personnel office should be established to carry out these additional responsibilities.
“It is important for the National Assembly be given its independence. The independence of this National Assembly is equal [or more so] to the Office of the President. But there must also be financial independence so it wouldn’t be [hindered] by the Ministry of Finance,” Ramjattan said.
He said Cheddi Jagan would have wanted the independence of the National Assembly. He also noted that report had stated that budget of the assembly is too tightly controlled by the executive. Ramjattan mentioned that Davies pointed out that the Parliament Office must not be subject to the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act as though it were a ministry.
Africo Selman, of APNU, said the separation of powers will guard against the state becoming a dictatorship. “We believe the National Assembly must be free from the interference of the executive,” she said.
Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy said that while the motion has good intentions, a lot of work has been done by the National Assembly. He suggested some amendments, saying that the whereas clause should capture the history of all the things done by the National Assembly over the years leading up to Davies’ assessment.
Ramsammy said 92% of Davies’ recommendations had been implemented. He said a recommendation was made to the Parliamentary Manage-ment Committee on how the other recommendations could be implemented and nothing was done since the Eighth Parliament.
Government Gail Teixeira said for many reasons the sub-committee dealing with the recommendations for the Parliament was shoved aside. She said some of the changes came as part of the Constitutional Reform Committee. She said while the work was incomplete, it did not mean nothing was done.
She pointed to the sub-committee in the inter-parliamentary party talks which commenced earlier this year.
When members of the opposition pressed Teixeira as to the need to implement Davies’ recommendations, she exploded, “I don’t care who the hell Davies is!”
She said government cannot be beholden to any consultant who comes and while the consultant can give advice, government is not bound to heed it.
