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Opposition balks at Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Security Sector – PPP
General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Clement Rohee, is of the view that the Opposition is deliberately
General Secretary of the PPP Clement Rohee
avoiding having security related matters come under the purview of the Parliament via an established Parliamentary Oversight Committee.
His contention for such a view is linked to the recent motion tabled by the Opposition in the National Assembly for the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the police shooting of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) protestors in Georgetown on December 6, 2011.
Rohee, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, said that “at that time, the protestors were engaged in an illegal procession since Police permission was not granted.”
He then made the nexus that the “motion is another deliberate and calculated attempt by the Opposition to avoid having security related matters come under the purview of the Parliament in which a motion was passed for the establishment of a Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector. We believe this committee would be the best mechanism for the resolution of security related issues.”
According to Rohee, the PPP believes that “partisan self-interest is the bedrock of APNU’s unwillingness to activate the oversight committee. The Opposition is fully aware that if such a committee were to be established, there would not be a free rein to launch continuous attacks on the PPP/C Government and the Minister of Home Affairs.”
He added that the PPP strongly believes that the main reason for the Opposition’s “reluctance” to have this oversight body in place, is because this committee must be headed by a Government Minister. This is a clear indication of the “Opposition’s unwillingness to have a resolution to security related matters institutionalized within the Parliamentary framework.”
He added, “The PPP wishes to remind that the Disciplined Service Commission Report, of which the Leader of the Opposition, Brigadier (Ret’d) David Granger was part of, had called for the establishment of a Security Commission.”
“It is clear that Mr. Granger and the Opposition therefore have no excuse for delaying the establishment of this Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector or the Security Committee,” the GS outlined.
Speaking to the efficacy of having such a Committee established Rohee said, “This committee can invite security experts of their choice, they can call the Minister of Home Affairs as they do in the US before the Senate Committee and the House Committee to give answers to questions, it can summon the commissioner of police, any of the heads of the joint services to answer questions from the members of this committee.”
According to the General Secretary, the PPP stands willing to provide any support that may be deemed necessary for the speedy establishment of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector and for the Speaker of the National Assembly to convene soonest a meeting of Parliamentary Parties for this purpose.
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