Amidst wrangling on a date for a sitting of the National Assembly, there will be no sitting this week as, even if the political parties reach agreement on a date, members have to be given at least six days’ notice.
Following weeks of bickering among the parliamentary political parties, Speaker of the Nation-al Assembly Raphael Trotman is expected to put something forward to both sides of the House today. However, a parliamentary source told Stabroek News that even if a date is set, there can be no sitting this week because of the requirement for parliamentarians to be given six days’ notice of the sitting.
Since the parliamentary recess ended on October 10, there has been no sitting of the House. Over the past weeks, there has been a debate as to who has the authority to reconvene sittings at the end of a recess where a date has not been fixed for sittings. Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs has said that the government has to call the sitting. Former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran has said that the current Speaker is obligated to convene a sitting of Parliament soonest and has the authority to do so. Trotman has said that he has consulted with former House speakers and was considering the way forward.
On Friday, Teixeira, who is the government’s chief whip in the National Assembly, said that she is awaiting the outcome
