Campaign needed to explain new parliamentary committees
-Opposition Chief Whip, Speaker
By Patrick Denny
Stabroek News
May 27, 2003

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Recent parliamentary reforms have introduced the parliamentary committee system and Opposition Chief Whip Lance Carberry believes that parliamentarians would need to be educated as to how to make the best use of the system.

He also believes that a document incorporating all the recent constitutional changes should be made available to the public. The Constitution Reform Com-mission had recommended during and after the constitution reform process the mounting of a public education programme on the issues being discussed and on the changes that were eventually recommended. The Commission also recommended that the revised constitution should be written in a people-friendly style and be gender-neutral.

It is a view shared by the Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran who also believes that a public education campaign is needed to increase public awareness about the various amendments that have been introduced recently and the import of those changes.

GAP/WPA parliamentarian, Sheila Holder shares their views but believes more important at this time is for the members of the various committees to have access to opinions other than those of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel as it related to procedures.

Holder said the Parliamentary Counsel would have been involved in the provisions which set up the committees and it is because of the imprecision with which the provisions were drafted that advice is now being sought.

"We need to get a more informed legal opinion that does not come out of the experience that created the problems," Holder asserted, "a lot of time will be wasted in trying to resolve the varying interpretations of the provisions".

A government spokesman also agreed with the need for a programme to educate the parliamentarians and the public not only about the parliamentary changes but on all the constitutional changes that were made. However, he said given that not all the measures had been implemented it was a question of deciding on the timing and the mechanism by which the programme would be delivered and the agencies that would implement it.

Among the reforms introduced are: the establishment of a parliamentary management committee to manage the affairs of the National Assembly; parliamentary sectoral committees on foreign affairs, natural resources, economic services and social services which are to monitor the administration of government policies in these areas; and parliamentary standing committees on constitutional reform and on appointments. The establishment of all but the parliamentary management committee was recommended by the Constitution Reform Commission. The parliamentary management committee is a recommendation of the 1998 Herdmanston Accord. All but the sectoral committees have been constituted.

Speaking with Stabroek News last week, Carberry pointed out that parliamentarians should know how the committees are expected to work and how to make effective use of them.

MPs would need to be properly prepared and briefed on the various issues if they are to make meaningful contributions to the work of the committees. He said this would mean that they would need to be supported by a team of professional researchers who would provide them with information on various issues so that they were able to make informed decisions.

As part of the constitutional reforms recommended by the Constitution Reform Commission, Carberry noted that all the changes that were made needed to be set out in one document so that the public could be aware of the comprehensiveness of the changes and keep track of their implementation.

Ramkarran told Stabroek News that there was a need for a comprehensive document which the Constitution Reform Commission did not have time to do, and steps would have to be taken to have one made available to the public.

The Social Partners have indicated to the parliamentary parties that the donor community would be willing to fund the printing of 10,000 copies of the document incorporating the recent changes. During the constitution reform process, one of the donor agencies made copies of the updated version of the 1980 constitution available for distribution to the public.

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