The search is on for a person to be appointed Speaker of the National Assembly, while Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira announced that the first sitting of the 12th Parliament could be as soon as the next two weeks.
“Assuming that all the parties have submitted [their list of parliamentarians] by early next week, then we should have a sitting by the next week,” Teixeira told Stabroek News yesterday.
The Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) has already submitted the name of its leader Lenox Shuman to GECOM as the first Member of Parliament for the list-joinder parties which hold one seat.
APNU+AFC General Secretary Amna Ally was terse in her reply when asked about how far along her party is in completing its extraction. “Whenever we are done it will be made public.”
The APNU+AFC holds 31 seats and the PPP/C 33 seats.
Teixeira said that that because of the current COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions such as social distancing which have to be adhered to, it is likely that the first sitting will be held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre because “Parliament’s seating is in relatively tight quarters.”
The PPP/C, Teixeira said, is currently working on completing its list of parliamentarians and wants to submit it to GECOM by this weekend as the party believes that parliament’s sitting is long overdue.
Parliament has been dissolved since December 30th 2019 and this was done to pave way for the March 2nd General Elections.
“There are a number of things that have to be done before the first sitting. The respective parties have to complete their extractions from their sides. We expect to finish ours over the weekend and will give it to GECOM. GECOM then advises the clerk that the following members have submitted their names. The names are required from both geographic and national top up. We have been working on extraction of the names. The clerk will validate the names on the list and ensures it correlates and is the correct list. Parliament can then be held,” she explained.
“A sitting can be called any time after that normally but these may not be normal times because of the long process and the length of time we have been out. So it may be possible to call a meeting earlier. Then the issue is the selection of the speaker and that has to be voted on,” she said.
Teixeira explained that there are a number of persons being considered and her party’s selection will depend on the availability of the persons being considered. “That is if a person is willing to take on the responsibility of the job of Speaker of the National Assembly,” she said.
Stabroek News understands that among the names being considered are those of attorneys Sanjeev Datadin and Sase Gunraj.
Gunraj is a Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission, a biologist, and a practicing attorney for over 15 years. He was very vocal against the attempt by the APNU+AFC government to support efforts to declare fraudulent results.
An attorney with over 20 years’ experience both in Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, Datadin provided his services for the PPP/C in several of the elections cases.
Teixeira would not disclose any of the names being considered but said that her party will work rapidly to provide the name of an exemplary Speaker of the Parliament to be voted on.
“No, I cannot share the names with you but you can ask. Once we have gotten our names in, we have to work rapidly for your speaker. You [the Speaker] are then elected though nomination and vote,” she said.
The PPP/C has the majority seats in the 65 member House with 33 seats and it is most likely that the person they nominate will be appointed Speaker.
Teixeira also remained tightlipped regarding the party’s intention to nominate someone for the position of Deputy Speaker.
