Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman yesterday received 21 books from British High Commissioner Andrew Ayre aimed at enhancing the knowledge of Members of Parliament and staff on Parliamentary procedures and practices.
The handing over took place at Parliament Buildings.
According to the Government Information Agency, Speaker Trotman said that the United Kingdom and Guyana have common Parliamentary practices in terms of rules and procedures and both countries learn from each other.
“United Kingdom is seen as the Mother of (the) Commonwealth so we had asked last year for resources… The House of Commons has been extremely helpful in helping us with research, advice, sending us persons to train, here in Guyana and we had persons going up for training as well, so it’s an ongoing relationship that we are building on and we are very, very pleased with…it’s a learning curve we are all on, and we are learning daily.”
He added that the books will enhance Parliament’s library and members of the public can make use of them there as the Tenth Parliament has generated interest and people want to know more about motions, bills, points of order and legislation.
Proceedings of the Tenth Parliament have been rife with controversies over rules and procedures as it pertains to committees and the rights of individual MPs among others. Several of these matters have ended up in court.
Ayre in his remarks said that the key United Kingdom parliamentary books on procedures and rules speak to what can and cannot be done in the House. “It’s a token of the continued cooperation between Guyana’s and the UK parliament under the umbrella of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.”
Others present at the handing over ceremony were MPs Manzoor Nadir, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Annette Ferguson and Richard Allen.
