Parliament sitting put off after opposition concerns
Following the PNCR-1G’s and the AFC’s opposition to an extension of the parliamentary session into the recess, the sitting of the National Assembly scheduled for Thursday for debate on five important bills has been postponed.

The bills – including one for wiretapping – are now unlikely to be considered before the end of the recess.
Parliamentary Standing Order No.9 says that “unless there are special reasons for so doing, no sitting of the National Assembly shall be held from 10th August to 10th October in any year.”

However, the government went ahead to adjourn the sitting of parliament to August 14 based on approval granted by the Speaker of the National Assembly to allow for an extension of parliament.  The PNCR-1G and AFC opposed the extension.

Robert Corbin

The government has since approached the opposition to discuss when parliament could be reconvened to debate the five bills dealing with crime and security but some members of parliament have already proceeded on their annual vacation, Leader of the Opposition and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin told this newspaper. The five bills were first read on August 7, 2008 and opposition MPs have said they were presented with little warning and required careful consideration.

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, told Stabroek News yesterday that parliament has gone into recess and whether or not it reconvenes during the recess would be a matter for the Speaker of the National Assembly and the government.

However, he said that reconvening parliament during the recess would depend on the availability of the MPs. He noted that some of the PNCR-1G MPs have proceeded on vacation overseas and he himself plans on taking a holiday in the hinterland.

In a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly on August 8, 2008, Corbin had recommended a deferral until the parliamentary recess ends in October 2008. Questioned yesterday as to whether he maintains this position, he said that at present he was still in discussions with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.
Stabroek News has learnt that several AFC MPs travelled overseas on business and vacation over the weekend.

The five bills, for which the parliamentary recess was being extended, include the Criminal Procedure (Plea Bargaining and Plea Agree-ment) Bill 2008 which makes arrangements for the Director of Public Prosecu-tions (DPP) or any prosecutor, police prosecutor or attorney authorized by the DPP and the accused to enter into a plea agreement; and the Criminal Law (Procedure) (Amend-ment) Bill 2008 which will formalize so-called paper committals of accused for High Court trials instead of awaiting the end of a preliminary inquiry (PI).

They also include the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2008, which would enable the appearance of detainees before court for obtaining bail etc from the place of detention by audio visual link; the Interception of Communica-tions Bill 2008, which would likely raise some civil liberties concerns and encompasses internet traffic; and the Telecommunications (Amendment) Bill 2008 would require providers of SIM-cards and cellular phones to establish at their own cost a system of recording and storing particulars of its SIM-cards and mobile cellular phones and the customers utilizing them.

Corbin said that the bills, particularly the Interception of Communications Bill 2008, also known as the “Wire-tapping Bill” have grave implications for civil liberties and people’s constitutional rights.

The PNCR-1G, he said, proposes to discuss that bill with a cross-section of the society before it is debated.
The government was seeking an extension of parliament to debate the bills which Corbin had previously said required careful analysis and for which no special reasons had been advanced by the government.

Ramkarran had told Stabroek News that he had initially granted the government its request for an extension in keeping with the parliamentary standing orders which provided for an extension due to “special reasons” since “special reasons” in his view did not set a particularly strong requirement. He however asked that the Prime Minister confer with the opposition. (Miranda La Rose)