Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman yesterday lauded Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh for his initiative to table his documents in the House in electronic format.
He said that this move if adopted by other parliamentarian will reduce the use of paper.
During the early part of yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly, he drew the parliamentarians’ attention to a CD which was on their desks. On the CD were the audited financial statements of several government agencies inclusive of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1999-2008 and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) 1998-2009.
Trotman said that the minister wrote to him last week seeking leave for documents to be supplied in the electronic format and “after due and careful consideration and some advice from the clerk we have decided to allow this novel form of presentation of reports because of the volume”.
He said “I will continue to encourage ministers and others who have documents to present to send them electronically to the parliament office”. Thereafter, he said the office will then upon request make copies in printed form to any member if they wish.
“It is time that we reduce the use of paper as we have said before, much of which admittedly is not utilized. I complement the minister for this novel approach”, he said.
Singh later expressed hope that this is a move that others will follow.
“I trust that this is a step that we will all take with greater frequency in the future”, he said.
