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PARLIAMENT IS IN CRISIS

Oct 25, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

 

Guyana’s reputation as parliamentary democracy is going to suffer disrepute unless there is a significant improvement in what takes place in parliament. At present what is occurring in parliament is making a laughing stock of the country and the relationship among the parties in parliament needs to be dramatically improved so as to avoid further shame to Guyana.
For the greater part of twenty-four years Guyana was the pariah of the Caribbean. Guyanese had to endure the taunts and insults thrown their way whenever the question of politics arose. Guyana was mocked then as not being familiar with democratic practices. All of this because of the lack of electoral democracy resulted in an unrepresentative parliament which gave the country a bad name outside of these shores.
Injury was added to insult when given the harsh economic crises that ensured after 1972, Guyanese were only allowed a meager US$40 to leave the country, making us the mocking stock of the Caribbean.
The restoration of democracy and the subsequent improvement in the economic development of the country meant that Guyanese could at least hold their heads with greater dignity, and especially after they could avoid the stigma of not having a representative parliament.
It does, however, seem as if what is taking place in the National Assembly these days will hold the country up to new ridicule. There are a host of wrongs taking place.
Firstly, it seems as if the National Assembly is being reduced to a fish market. There is constant heckling and cross chatting and most of it is not done in good spirit. This form of cross-talk is quite pronounced in the British House of Commons but this does not mean that our parliament has to imitate that raucousness.
Parliament should be a place of civilized discourse. It should be the House where manners and civility resound. It should be a place where parliamentary norms, conventions and practices should be scrupulously observed.
It should provide an incentive for the peoples’ representatives to be on their best behaviour. For example, good parliamentary decorum demands that when the Speaker is on the floor, everyone should hold his or her tongue. No one should be standing or speaking when the Speaker intervenes or is on the floor.
Yet consistently during this parliament, and as was quite evident last Monday, there were times when the Speaker could hardly hear himself. The Speaker was supposed to have the microphone but in effect his statements were being drowned out by the din. This shows scant respect for the position of Speaker.
This form of disrespect should not be tolerated. If members cannot control themselves, if they cannot still their tongues when the Speaker is speaking, then the Speaker should simply adjourn the sitting and have a serious chat with the Chief Whips of the respective parties that are represented in the National Assembly.
When the Speaker is addressing the Assembly, you should be able to hear a pin drop. Instead, what is happening is that parliamentarians are most often than not carrying on their own conversations.

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