By Abena Rockcliffe
A nation’s parliament is considered the home of democracy. In recent years, Guyana’s House of Democracy has seen diminished occupancy, leaving many to conclude that democracy is at a record low. This was the picture painted yesterday by Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones.
Jones is one of the members of the APNU+AFC who was suspended from the House over misconduct. He, and others were deprived of pay during the suspension period.
Yesterday, his focus was not the conduct of members. He sought to highlight the attitude of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) towards the business of the House. Essentially, Jones said that the PPP/C has demonstrated little regard for the pulse of democracy.
Jones went as far back as 2021. For that year, excluding sittings that facilitated budgetary matters, the House saw 10 meetings.
He said that in 2022, the frequency of sittings further decreased. The House met eight times, excluding for budgetary matters.
The record failed to improve in 2023 as the House only met eight times, excluding those sittings for budgetary matters.
Jones then compared those figures to the record under the APNU+AFC Government. He said that in 2015, the National Assembly met 19 times, 38 times in 2016, 25 in 2017 and 29 times in 2018. Notably, Jones did not state if the figures presented for sittings under APNU+AFC tenure excluded sittings for consideration of budgets.
Nevertheless, Jones said that the National Assembly is not the only section of the 12th Parliament that is suffering. He said that parliamentary committees are also not meeting.
Jones said that while Guyana faces a rapidly developing oil and gas sector, the Natural Resources Committee hardly meets. He said that in 2021 and 2022, when the committee was chaired by the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, the committee never met. But in 2023 under the chairmanship of former Minister of State Dawn Hastings-Williams, the committee met six times.
Jones said while Guyana faces an attack on her territorial integrity, the Foreign Relations Committee is slacking. “It is deeply concerning that, in the year 2023, the Foreign Relations Committee, responsible for addressing such critical matters, convened only twice.” That committee is chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd.
Jones said that despite major promises from the PPP on constitutional reform, the Constitutional Reform Committee never met in 2023. That committee is chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall.
The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector has responsibility for examining the Disciplined Forces of Guyana. Jones said this committee, chaired by Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, has not met in three years.
The Committee on Appointments is also suffering setbacks. Jones said that 19th meeting of the Committee on Appointments was held in April 2023 and arrangements for consultations on the appointments to the Rights of the Child Commission were finalized. On May 8, 2023, Jones said members of the Committee on Appointments held a consultation with stakeholders, where they were briefed on the agreed guidelines for nominations. “To date the members await the convening of a meeting of the Committee on Appointments, to formally prepare the submission of the list of nominees for the approval of Parliament. For the year 2023 this committee held only Three (3) meetings. The last of which was held on the 8th May, 2023,” the Opposition Chief Whip said. It should be noted that the committee is chaired by Minister Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira.
Furthermore, Jones said the Statutory Instrument Committee never met in the life of the 12th Parliament neither has the Standing Orders Committee.
Jones said the record of the all too important Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is also worrying as the government hardly shows up.
With the foregoing in mind, and bringing a closure to his point, Jones referred to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa which states, “…democracy and good governance are not a luxury, but a fundamental requirement to achieve sustainable development.”
