Parliamentary democracy in Guyana has been collateral damage in government’s resort to the courts to stave off the effects of the no-confidence motion passed against the David Granger-led administration on December 21 last year,
So said Opposition Leader Bharat Jagdeo at a press conference last week. “Now you have a non-functioning parliament…because they have decided to drag out the whole issue of the no-confidence motion and holding elections. Abusing it, and ruling by decree basically. So now you have almost a year now…when the Parliament has not functioned, and this is in a parliamentary democracy where this is an equal branch of government,” Jagdeo said.
October 21st, 2019 constituted ten months since the passage of the no-confidence motion and in that time, Parliament’s website shows that only four sittings have been held. These sittings were held on 3rd January 2019, 26th April 2019, 15th May 2019, and 23rd May 2019.
In the meantime, Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs told Stabroek News, all Members of Parliament (MP) have received their salaries and other benefits every month since December 2018.
Parliamentary Committees
It is not certain whether and or how frequently the various parliamentary committees have been meeting either.
Stabroek News reached out to Chair-man of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Irfaan Ali – now the PPP’s presidential candidate – and he said that he could not recall whether the committee has met for the year. The duties of the PAC includes examining the audited accounts of state agencies presented in the Auditor General’s Report, and exercising general supervision of the functioning of the Auditor General.
In the absence of meetings of the PAC, the audited accounts of State agencies are not subjected to scrutiny beyond what has already been reported in the Auditor General’s Report.
The PPP/C’s Odinga Lumumba, former Chairman of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, when asked whether the committee had met since the December 21 no-confidence vote, said, “We can’t have no meeting because there is no Parliament.”
Lumumba is no longer an MP as he has resigned over his dual citizenship status. An attempt was made to contact Joseph Harmon, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, to ascertain whether any meetings have been held since Lumumba’s resignation, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
The Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources is seen as doubly important at the moment given the developments in the petroleum sector, including the fact that first oil production in Guyana is now expected in December.
Stabroek News could not reach Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform, Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Basil Williams, to find out whether his committee has met for the year. However, Shadow Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, when contacted, said the committee has not met. In fact, as shared previously by opposition and government MPs alike, Nandlall said the committee has hardly met since 2015, owing to what he said has been a failure on the part of government members of the committee to present themselves for meetings.
Dominic Gaskin, who has also resigned as an APNU+AFC parliamentarian over his
dual citizenship status, had blamed the opposition for stymieing the work of the committee due to their lack of attendance. However, Nandlall said last week that since the quorum needed is three persons, government members could have proceeded and made progress if they were present at the meetings.
Stabroek News was also unable to establish contact with APNU+AFC’s George Norton, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments. However, this newspaper was able to contact the PPP/C’s Gail Teixeira, who was also on the committee, and she said that as far as she recalls, the committee met once since the no-confidence vote. Teixeira has also resigned as a PPP/C parliamentarian over her dual citizenship status.
She noted that Norton, in January 2019, had tried to call several other meetings but could not because he could not amass a quorum from the government side. The opposition members, she explained, had taken a decision not to attend meetings, but added that meetings could still have proceeded if government members attended.
Stabroek News also attempted to make contact with the chairpersons of several other parliamentary committees but was unsuccessful.
