Trotman wants to secure independence of Parliament

Nov 04, 2013 News

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– Pushes for lump sum budgetary allocations and legal counsel  

By Abena Rockcliffe
Speaker Raphael Trotman, sitting at the helm of the National Assembly, has expressed a deep desire to secure the complete independence of the Parliament Office.
Trotman learnt, at the recently concluded 16th Biennial Regional Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, that a prior conference paved the way for Regional Parliaments to become financially independent and to have legal counsels.
This he became aware of as he submitted a resolution for each Parliament to have a Legal Counsel department and become independent and autonomous from the Executive in terms of management of its own budget. Trotman told Kaieteur News that he was advised that the matters were already considered as part of the benchmark when the conference was held in Cayman Islands two years ago. He said that it is now his duty to take up that benchmark and have it enforced.

The Speaker said that his predecessor, Ralph Ramkarran was pushing for the aforementioned to be put in place and he now plans to echo the calls made.
Trotman also pointed to the “Office of Clerk of the National Assembly Bill” that was tabled by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’s Volda Lawrence. That piece of legislation seeks the establishment and administration of an independent Office of the Clerk of the National Assembly. It was rejected by the government and sent to a Special Select Committee and is now deemed by Trotman as “hanging.” He said, however, that he sees the pertinence of that “hanging piece of legislation”.
But what Trotman is essentially pushing for is for Parliament to get lump sum budgetary allocations and of course a legal counsel.
What is apparently most important is the lump sum allocation, as with that, it will be Parliament’s prerogative to appoint a legal counsel, once equipped with the finance.
Trotman said that he will be “pushing” and speaking to all Parliamentary political parties about the matter.
APNU’s Leader, David Granger told Kaieteur News on Friday that his party is in full support of the establishment of a Parliamentry office of budget and a legal counsel.
He said that he didn’t know about the resolution and what provisions were made but “what I do know is that it is necessary for Parliament to be fully independent”.
However, not too long ago, at PPP press conference, Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford said she prefers to increase the number of staff of the Ministry of Legal Affairs who provide legal support to Parliament than for the Public Service Ministry to create a new structure within Parliament Office for a Legal Counsel.
She said, currently, there is no establishment or position as a Legal Counsel in the structure of Parliament. Westford added that what exists is a Chief Parliamentary Counsel and his Deputy, who are attached to the Attorney General Office, Ministry of Legal Affairs.
Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs had told Kaieteur News that in July, a letter was dispatched to the Minister requesting approval for the appointments of a Legal Counsel, Researcher, and Typist, which would have led to the creation of a Legal Division within the Parliament Office.
An acknowledgement receipt of the letter was not received and a reminder letter was subsequently sent. Isaacs enlightened that the request for the creation of the post of Legal Counsel was based on a decision taken by the Parliamentary Management Committee.
He said the Minister’s decision now puts him in a tighter spot, since he has no legal background and would be tasked with reading the Bills before and after they are approved in the National Assembly.
Much controversy had surrounded the delay in the assent to the four Local Government Bills which were unanimously passed in the National Assembly and which are necessary for the holding of elections.
Nineteen years after the last Local Government Elections were held in Guyana, the National Assembly, on August 7, approved a suite of legislation to pave the way for a fresh round of elections. The House approved the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill. This was after a 12-year period of attempting to reform the process. The Bills attracted some amount of “drama” in the National Assembly as the Government and the Opposition went head-to-head with differing opinions.
As the Bills were eventually passed, it was sent to Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Cecil Dhurjon, whose office is stationed at the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
The Bills are still there some four months after being passed. Several stakeholders kicked up a stink at the hold up and Isaacs had come under fire.
He sought to make it clear that he didn’t just dump the Bills at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and not look back. “I continuously checked and checked.”
Isaacs stated categorically that “until such time that a legal hand is appointed to handle the affairs of these complex Bills, I will continue to send them to the Ministry of Legal Affairs”
He said that he takes his chances with the Bills coming from Private Members (Members of the Opposition) because, as he claimed, those are pretty straightforward. However, Isaacs was adamant that he cannot take chances with the contentious Bills.
Both the Alliance For Change and APNU believe the non-inclusion of a Legal Counsel within Parliament Office structure is a violation of Parliamentary democracy.
Parliamentary counsel is usually a body of lawyers who prepare legislation that is proposed to pass into law.
The job of a parliamentary draftsman is to draft the detailed form of proposed laws, in a way that will accurately reflect the intentions of the politicians who are promulgating them, without leaving loopholes or producing perverse results.
The National Assembly, in simple terms, can be described as the highest decision making body in a democratic society.  It is referred to as the bastion of democracy and is supposed to be independent. The National Assembly, in most cases, is made up of executive and opposition. The president is not officially a part of the National Assembly but can choose to address it at any time. In most cases, the President only addresses the National Assembly once every five years. Only during this address is Parliament in progress; unless he is there the body is referred to as the National Assembly. The executive administration is supposed to be answerable to the National Assembly.

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