Opposition questions timing of recent House of Representatives meeting; P.M. says sitting will be last in current National Assembly for now

Published by BBNTEAM at July 16, 2024

Posted: Tuesday, July 16, 2024. 12:53 pm CST.

By Aaron Humes: The United Democratic Party continues to complain about the too-short notice given for the June 28 meeting of the House of Representatives which did not allow time for the Opposition to present questions to Ministers.

Leader of the Opposition Moses “Shyne” Barrow said in presenting a privilege motion concerning the matter that Speaker of the House Valerie Woods conceded that while the calling of that meeting was not strictly against Standing Orders, protocol has been established that regular sittings of the House are called with at least a week’s notice or five business days (i.e., Monday to Friday). Barrow pointed out that his constituents have questions that they expect the Opposition to bring to the House at its regular sittings, as distinct from special sittings like Thursday’s.

He also called on the Speaker to consider formalizing the protocol in a Standing Order; the Standing Orders are currently in the process of revision. Questions to Ministers are covered under Standing Order 19(3). Timing of meetings is covered under Standing Order 11(1) which sets meeting dates on Fridays of every week; however, meetings are held on average once every other month and generally at the discretion of the Government.

Responding, Prime Minister John Briceño noted that the June 28 meeting was properly called and the lack of notice to the Opposition was “human error… There was no ill intent or trying to pull something on you. It was a human error, why you were not given enough notice.” He added that the current Government has tried to be more respectful of the Opposition than any previous Government, red or blue.

The Prime Minister added that Thursday’s meeting will be the last in the venerable National Assembly building for at least a year and because of the urgency needed in passing the MCC legislation, Thursday’s meeting was held: “As you are aware by the end of this month all of this is going to be removed, demolished because we are going be refurbished. But the George Price Center where we will be having the meetings will not be ready by September. So we have to have a meeting now.”

A meeting of the Senate has been set for July 23 at 9 a.m. after which the National Assembly goes on a summer break.

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