Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir yesterday said that his office is “working hard” to convene the first meetings of the various Parliamentary Committees but there has been a delay since they are currently facing “some” challenges.
“…..We are still looking at arrangements for convening the first meeting not only of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) but all the other committees that were appointed,” Nadir told reporters yesterday.
He was at the time responding to questions following the handing over of the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2019 at Parliament.
Nadir said that his office is currently facing “some” challenges in convening the first meetings and priority is being placed on having all members present.
“We are working hard….There are some challenges and when you are doing the first meeting it’s like an election you have to ensure that you have everything in place to get all of the people who are members of those committees present because (that) first meeting is a voting meeting to elect chairpersons of the committees. So be patient,” Nadir explained.
When asked about what are “some” of the challenges he is referring to, Nadir responded “one will be logistics”.
He added that a number of mechanisms are being examined including the establishment of virtual meetings which will enable members to participate from their homes.
“…..We are not only planning for the first meeting. Once you have the first meeting you will see a rapid rollout of meetings. So you want to be able to get people from far-flung places like Paruima and Shulinab, we have members of Committees there and if they have to come every other week to a particular location then we will have some logistics challenges and what happens now if there is a third wave of COVID and there is lockdown. So we are looking at setting up some means to ensure that people can participate even from their home as I did when we had the sessions of Parliament,” Nadir further explained.
Just last week, Nadir told Stabroek News that the meetings had not been convened due to “scheduling conflicts”.
He had said that the meetings remain a top priority for his office.
The 12th Parliament has fourteen fully constituted committees which are responsible for various sectors. Among them is the PAC which has oversight of public spending and the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform.
General Secretary of the Alliance For Change (AFC) David Patterson is designated to chair the PAC which last met on August 6, 2018 and is a full three and a half years behind in its examination of the public accounts as detailed in the various Auditor General’s Reports.
The PAC members include Opposition members Juretha Fernandes, Ganesh Mahipal and Jermaine Figueira.
Members from the government’s side of the House are Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, Dharamkumar Seeraj, Vishwa D.B. Mahadeo and Sanjeev Datadin.
During a virtual press conference held by the AFC two Fridays ago, Patterson repeated the call for Nadir to convene all standing and select committees in particular the PAC.
He explained that the Parliamentary Standing Orders prescribe that the Speaker convene the first meeting of each committee so that a Chairperson can be elected from its members.
The same Orders, according to Patterson, provide for the Speaker to nominate either the Deputy Speaker or another member of parliament to convene the meeting on his behalf if he is unavailable.
