Government will this week appeal the ruling of Chief Justice Ian Chang in the action brought by the administration challenging the numerical make- up of the National Assembly’s Com-mittee of Selection, but the move is not likely to affect the work of the parliamentary committees.
“Yes, the government has decided that the decision of Chief Justice Ian Chang…will be appealed and an appeal will be filed shortly,” Attorn-ey General Anil Nandlall told Stabroek News yesterday. “It should be done before the end of this week,” he said.
AFC leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, when contacted yesterday, expressed surprise that the government has moved in this direction but noted that they have every right to do so. He, however, said that it will not affect the work of the parliamentary committees. The attorney explained that the court of first jurisdiction has ruled that the business of parliament is the business of parliament and he said that work should continue as normal. “It (the appeal) will not affect (work) in any way,” he stressed. Ramjattan noted too that there isn’t a stay of execution and in view of the court ruling “nothing can stay what we have to do in parliament.” He noted that an appeal can take about four to five years
In March, Nandlall filed a Constitutional Motion in the High Court to challenge the numerical make-up of the Committee of Selection and to settle the composition of others, saying that they ought to be reflective of the votes won by the parties at the last general elections. He proposed that five seats on the committees go to the PPP/C, with four to APNU and one to the AFC, as opposed to the current make-up, which sees APNU and the AFC with four seats and one seat, respectively, while the PPP/C has four seats.
Nandlall asked the court for orders setting aside, revoking, cancelling or annulling the composition of the committee on the grounds that it was in breach of the Constitution and a breach of the provisions of the law and further directing the respondents and their servants/ agents to constitute all standing committees and sectoral committees and every other committee of the 10th Parliament, whose composition is not expressly set out in the Constitution, with due regard to and in compliance with the principle of proportionality. Opposition Leader David Granger and Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman were named as the respondents in the case.
Justice Chang subsequently threw out the action saying that the court had no jurisdiction in the matter since there was no evidence of a constitutional breach. He also found that the constitution does not mandate that the Committee of Selection and other parliamentary standing committees must reflect the proportion of seats held by the parties in the National Assembly and concluded that Nandlall’s constitutional motion had been “legally misconceived”.
Prior to the filing of the motion, the government and opposition were at loggerheads, first over the composition of the Committee of Selection. The PPP wanted to have 10 members with the party having five representatives while APNU and the AFC wanted 9 members with four PPP representatives, four APNU representatives and an AFC representative. The Committee of Selection decides the composition of the other parliamentary committees. The combined opposition subsequently defeated the government on a vote to determine the composition of the Committee of Selection. The combined opposition holds a one-seat majority in the House having garnered 33 seats compared to the 32 seats won by the PPP in the last election.
Following this, the government and opposition were divided over the numerical composition of the other committees in the House. The matter was discussed at tripartite talks between the three parties in parliament but no consensus was arrived at. Nandlall’s court motion was then filed.
The opposition is keen to have a majority on the committees. APNU’s Joseph Harmon had moved a motion in the National Assembly seeking to have Standing Order No. 86(2) amended to read that representation on the Sectoral Committees should be calculated in accordance with the seat allocation to the Political Parties in Parliament; and that the four Sectoral Committees are not be constituted until and unless representation thereto is calculated in accordance with the seat allocation to the political parties in the 10th Parliament. The four sectoral committees—on natural resources, economic services, foreign relations and social services— currently consist of seven members; four representing the government and three representing the opposition, to be nominated by the Committee of Selection.
The motion was referred to the Standing Orders Committee for consideration. Ramjattan told Stabroek News yesterday that the Committee has to report back to the National Assembly and he was optimistic that it would support the changes and when a vote is called, the 33 opposition members would likely vote in support. He said that while he has not had a recent update, the Committee must have met to discuss the matter. “We want that to be fast-tracked so that we could fast-track the NICIL investigation,” he said. He added that he expects that the motion would come up at the next sitting of the National Assembly.
