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Parliamentary live streaming to start in six months
– Information will be censored to protect the reputation of Parliament-Speaker
Since information is the life blood of a democracy, the live streaming (information viewed through live broadcast over the internet) of Parliamentary debates will be up and running within six months time to afford citizens an opportunity to have a transparent understanding of the proceedings.
(From the left) Canadian envoy, Ms. Nicole Giles signs the MoU with Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs who is seated next to the Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman
This was declared by the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Raphael Trotman and Canadian Ambassador to Guyana, Ms. Nicole Giles yesterday at a press briefing held in one of Parliament’s committee rooms.
Granted that in this technological era, such a project should have been in place some time ago, the management of the Parliament has stepped up to the plate and are looking to have the million dollar project in place soon, with testing being conducted in time for the 2014 Budget debates.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Canadian Envoy and the Clerk of the National Assembly, Mr. Sherlock Isaacs. The French translation of the MoU will be signed at a later date.
The cheque for $5,244,064 was also handed over to the Clerk by Ms. Giles for the funding of the project.
Stefan Gajie was designated Live Stream Consultant.
Ms. Giles, in her address to the members of the media fraternity, informed that she is pleased to be a part of the launching of such an important project which will provide citizens with a front row seat to the proceedings of the National Assembly.
The envoy explained that the project is a collaborative effort between the government of Canada, through the Canada Fund for local initiatives, and the Parliament Office of the National Assembly.
The Canada Fund, she added is an initiative which supports and implements projects across the world in partnership with local, national and international organizations, educational institutions and local governments. It enables Canada to respond to and address the needs of its global partners while furthering Canadian values and foreign policy priorities.
By broadening access to the political dialogue, Giles believes that the project will serve to be an effective means towards fostering a stronger and sustainable democracy.
Moreover, the Speaker, in his brief remarks explained that the Management of Parliament will remain committed to using all forms of the media in order to keep all citizens informed.
He added too that they are working towards establishing a comfortable media room. Trotman informed as well, that while it is believed that with more cameras there will be more antics from our political leaders, it may also curtail the behaviour of the politicians.
He noted too that the live streaming will be able to allow the citizens to make an informed conclusion of the persons representing their cause in the National Assembly.
While this may be the case, he alluded to the fact that some of the information will be censored in order to maintain and protect the “unblemished reputation of the Parliament.” He said, “We want to ensure that even though it is streaming we want to maintain the integrity of Parliament and not any everything will go out there. We want to protect our reputation.”
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