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Sluggish Parliamentary Committee forced passage of Broadcasting Bill
The sloth of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments (PCA) in executing its functions was cited as one
Gail Teixeira, Chief Whip, PPPC
of the determining factors behind the government’s decision to rewrite the Broadcasting Legislation and to exclude the Committee from the selection process of Broadcasting Authority members.
The idea was vented by Chief Whip of the People’s Progressive Party Civic, Gail Teixeira last Thursday as she debated the Broadcasting Bill before it was passed.
She was attempting to explain the party’s reasons for rewriting the legislation to give complete power to appoint the members of the Broadcasting Authority to the President. She noted that in 2001 the House was undergoing constitutional reform and acts were being passed on human rights and other sections of the constitution.
That, she said, was where the idea of a standing committee which would deal solely with appointments was born.
In 2003 the PCA was appointed and enshrined in the constitution and the standing orders. According to the report of the Draft Standing Orders recently tabled in the house, the PCA is to be created soon after the beginning of each new National Assembly to undertake the task of appointing members of any Commission established under the Constitution.
According to Teixeira the committee tried to appoint the rights commissions over a number of years with less than stellar results. She highlighted the fact that in 2005 the motion was brought to establish the Women and Gender Equality Commission which failed.
In 2007 the Ethnic Relations Commission was brought to the Committee and that too failed. She noted that it took from 2007 to 2010 for the Committee to complete the process for the Indigenous People’s Commission, the Women and Gender Equality Commission and the Rights of the Child Commission.
According to Teixeira, the Government operated in the belief that the committee would come to agreement within itself on persons to be appointed and the agreement could then be passed by the House.
“That showed to be a fallacy,” said Teixeira. She noted that following those experiences of 2003 to 2010 and worse yet the fact that the Ethnic Relations Commission has been taken to the courts on an ex parte matter – one that has been before the House for at least five years now, the party took the decision that it did.
She admitted that the committee is now stymied over any further progress on the Ethnic Relations Commission, because the matter is before the court.
According to Teixeira, the party rethought the matter and makes no apologies for rethinking the composition of the authority. She argued that the party cannot say that it want the Broadcasting Bill to be enacted as soon as possible and then put it before a committee that has found itself “having difficulty over five years to bring certain rights commissions in…”
The legislation, she noted, was therefore amended to allow for the President to appoint the members of the authority. She added that if the party is truly serious about putting forward the authority, then it cannot be caught up in the committee of appointment for what she called an “endless period of time”.
Meanwhile the country would have been forced to continue under the regulations previously governing the broadcasting sector which, according to Teixeira, has been found to be deficient for a long time.
The Broadcasting Legislation was passed on Thursday, July 28, and the President is now authorized to appoint all the members of the National Broadcasting Authority, including its Chairman.
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