PPP objects to late notices for Constitutional Reform Committee meetings

Dec 13, 2018 News

The Parliamentary Opposition has decried the late notices for meetings of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform which is chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams.
A second meeting of the Committee in as many days was called yesterday at lunch. Speaker, Dr. Barton Scotland made the announcement, but Opposition MP, Priya Manickchand informed the National Assembly that this was the second time that the meetings was being called with a one-day notice.
“The one-day notice may well prove to be insufficient to members and we have never had an announcement of the Standing Committee meetings in the House,” Manickchand stated.
She further noted that there are members on the Committee who would be unable to attend the meeting and this may have been as a result of the late notice.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams

“I thought I would bring it to the House’s attention. What we have been getting are one-day notices. Like, I got a call this morning from the Parliament Office following an email yesterday [Tuesday] about this meeting. And I pointed out in a letter to the Honourable Chairman as well as all the Committee Members, that we went for almost an entire year without a Committee meeting,” Manickchand noted.
Williams has been criticised for not convening meetings of the Committee to deal with the Constitutional Reform Commission Bill, which is essential to the process of constitutional reform.
The committee comprises Williams, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and Minister of Public Service, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine. Opposition MPs on the committee include former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, Priya Manickchand, Dr. Frank Anthony and Adrian Anamayah.
The current Standing Committee was established on the 9th September 2015. The Committee met for the first time on the 30th March 2017.
The PPP has pointed out that the first reading of the Constitutional Reform Consultative Commission Bill No.9/2017 happened on the 27th July, 2017, and on said date the Bill was committed to the Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform.
The Committee under Williams, the PPP has noted, convened its first meeting to consider the Bill on the 28th February 2018 and met twice thereafter the 19th March 2018 and last Friday.
“It may help for this Committee to get maximum participation if there could be agreement on when we meet. I was curious as to why the last meeting was so hurriedly summoned. And then I heard the Prime Minister strangely boasting about progress on the issue of Constitutional Reform,” Manickchand has communicated to Williams.

Opposition MP, Priya Manickchand

Leader of Government Business in the House, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, had previously blamed the Committee tasked with considering the Bill for the delays. The Government has promised to deliver the much-anticipated reform during the 2015 campaign season, which is likely to lead to some powers being stripped from the executive.
Constitutional reform has been on the Parliamentary agenda for several years. In fact, in the last Parliament, the Committee was chaired by then Opposition Leader, now President David Granger.

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