Only 2 of 11 Parliamentary committees functioning five months after reopening

Apr 03, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Only two of 11 Parliamentary committees are functioning, some five months after Parliament reconvened.

The Sectoral committees that have not been established include the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Social Services, Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services.

This publication understands that Standing Order 80 provides that the following Standing Committees shall be established at the commencement of each National Assembly:

• The Committee of Selection;
• The Public Accounts Committee;
• The Parliamentary Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform;
• The Committee on Appointments;
• The Parliamentary Management Committee;
• The Sectoral Committees specified in Standing Order No. 86; and
• The Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector.

Opposition Chief Whip Tabitha Sarabo-Halley confirmed to this newspaper that she emailed Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir on March 4^th, 2026 to no avail regarding the delay. In her correspondence, she noted that “Parliament convened on November 3rd, and subsequently met for the presentation of the National Budget on January 26th, as well as on additional dates from February 2nd to February 14th, 2026.”

She further stated, “To date, however, the only two committees that have been established are the Committee of Selection and the Business sub-committee; the other aforementioned committees have not yet been constituted.”

Sarabo-Halley emphasised that given the central oversight, accountability, and governance functions performed by these bodies particularly regarding budget scrutiny, constitutional reform, and security sector oversight she has requested advice on the anticipated timeline for their establishment and whether procedural or administrative issues are causing the delay.

The Chief Whip further explained to this newspaper the critical importance of these committees, arguing that their absence leaves major national issues unaddressed. “So, all the issues that have arisen in the last September to now… in the last six months, the issue with the police officers, the issues with human services and the children that were pregnant and are in the hospital, all of those things would have been dealt with at the social services committee,” she explained.

She noted that without a Social Services Committee, there is no forum to interrogate these issues or find out what really transpired. Similarly, she pointed to the lack of a Foreign Relations Committee as a barrier to discussing the ongoing issue with Venezuela or the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed regarding the “Shield of the Americas.”

The Natural Resources Committee’s absence is also under fire, specifically regarding its role in the mining and oil and gas sectors. “Any of the issues that we deal with, like the Marudi mining issue and all the other issues related to mining and the oil and gas sector that has come up over the last five months, there’s no committee for us to interrogate those issues,” Sarabo-Halley said. She noted that these committees have the power to call entities like ExxonMobil or those in charge of Marudi mining to public hearings.

Furthermore, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises audit reports, remains unconstituted. The Chief Whip indicated that the last report reviewed was from 2019.

“We are in 2026 and we have not gone through any of the audit reports from 2020 to 2025. And so, no oversight, no accountability, no transparency as it relates to all the monies that have been spent over the last five years,” she lamented. According to the Sarabo- Halley, the delay significantly hinders the ability of representatives to hold the government accountable for policy implementation and expenditure. “The longer it takes for the PAC to be constituted, the longer it takes for us to know exactly how our monies were spent over the last five, now six years, because we’re now in a new budget cycle,” Sarabo-Halley added.

She closed by suggesting that the Speaker’s focus appears to be elsewhere: “For whatever reason, the Speaker has decided that the committees of parliament are no longer important. He will be able to explain why having a new parliament building and all of the other things that he seems to be focused on is more important than the people’s business.”

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• natural resources, parliamentary committees, social services

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