Parliament with little to do tomorrow

Parliament returns after a long recess with little to do — at least at its first sitting, which takes place tomorrow.

None of the things which Govern-ment promised to have ready at the resumption are ready: neither the bills required to make the Caribbean Court of Justice a legal reality nor the declaration forms for the Integrity in Public Life bill. The Report of the Airport Inquiry, which cost taxpayers over $5 million, will not be tabled on Friday. Furthermore, none of the pre-Budget papers would be laid although Parliament has to pass the Appropria-tion bill by September 30. Parliament would debate the relatively insignificant piece of legisation — the Supreme Court of Judicature Amendment Bill, which is designed to increase the number of judges. The debate on this Bill, once it stays on the issue at hand, is expected to be short. Asked to explain why after a six-week break there appeared to be no business on the Order Paper, Attorney General Glenda Morean assured there was “quite a bit” of legislation to come “but they were still going through the final stages.”

She added: “I can only do my part, which is to bring forward the legislation — and I have been bringing forward the legislation but it gets bogged down in (Legislative Review) Committee. I find sometimes too long.” The Legislative Review Committee, which is chaired by the Attorney General, comprises Cabinet members and the Chief Parliamentary Counsel. It screens all pieces of legislation before they go to Cabinet and then Parliament. The Attorney General conceded that at the end of the day, she has been “taking the blame” for the Committee’s tardiness. Morean stressed that several pieces of legisation were in the pipeline: the Firearms Bill, the CCJ Bills, Terrorism legislation, Amendment to Mutual Assistance, Extradition Amendment Bill, as well as the Insurance Bill and Amendment to the Industrial Relations Act. But all these Bills have to be “signed off” by the Legislation Review Committee and then the Cabinet.

On the Report of the Airport Commission of Inquiry, which was handed in last Saturday, Morean said there were several volumes of the Report and she hadn’t yet gone through all of them. It is understood that some of the considerations which the AG would have to make in examining the report is whether any of the statements are libellous and whether the release of the report could prejudice any future (court) action.  Morean said yesterday, “So far, she had seen no problems in the Report.”  Stressing that there was no minority report, she said the Report, which was signed by all the Commissioners, should be tabled in Parliament soon. Morean who had given an undertaking last month that the declaration forms required by the Integrity in Public Life Act would be ready for Parliament on its resumption, stated that the forms were being examined by the “new Integrity Commission.”  “I don’t know that we have recieved them yet,” she said, adding quickly that she hadn’t checked for the last two days. “The last time I checked, which was last week, I was told that they had been sent for their (the Commissioners’) comment,” she said.

On the CCJ Bills, Morean said they were on yesterday’s agenda for the Legislative Review Committee meeting. The AG was also questioned on the Police Reform Bills, which are before a Joint Select Committee, which she chaired. That Committee was mandated to report back to the Parliament on July 31. At least one Opposition member raised concerns and noted that it appeared that the Government had taken a position that because the Opposition had reservations about the Bills, they (the Government) should not pursue the issue any further. The member said that the Chairman (the AG) had stopped calling meetings. It last met in May. But Morean said yesterday that the Opposition’s attendance was poor but the Committee had a quorum and proceeded to take certain decisions. Secretary of the Committee, Neil Jaggassar, said the reason why the committee had stopped meetings was because it had submitted all comments to the technical team which worked on the Bills. This team, which is chaired by Sir Ellis Clarke and  includes Guya Persad, and Eric O’Dowd, were supposed to examine the comments and make a submission to the Committee.