Parliament committees understaffed

In a desperate and historic move, the chairmen of five parliamentary committees have banded together and hit out at the Government for its indifference to various problems which they said are causing the committee system to not work.

Parliamentary committees are mandated by the Constitution to look after the public’s interest by making government ministries, and state agencies and institutions accountable to the public. But they are not working, the chairmen, who have formed themselves into the new Council of Committee Chairmen, said.

They have requested a meeting with Prime Minister Patrick Manning, and there was talk of court action and protesting outside Parliament, if Government continues to ignore them.

Independent senators, Ramesh Deosaran, Mary King and Parbatie Anmolsingh-Mahabir, who chair three joint select parliamentary committees (JSPC), UNC Senator Wade Mark and Independent MP Gerald Yetming, chairmen of the Public Accounts Enterprises Committee (PAEC), and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), respectively, yesterday held a press conference at the Committee Room of Parliament to make the announcement.

It followed their first special business meeting called to review their constitutional functions and develop improved ways to serve the public.

Outlining some of the problems her committee faces, King, said, “We need a lot more staff than we have at the moment. We’re short on processing and analytical staff.”

Yetming, St Joseph MP, was more frank.

“The committee system is not working, and is not effective in looking after the people’s interest,” he said.

Further, there are hundreds of reports that have accumulated from previous parliaments, dating back to more than ten years ago, that have not been examined by the PAC, Yetming added.

Deosaran said one of the problems the committees face is the failure of government ministries and state boards to produce their reports on time (within 60 days), some taking years to do so.

Mark added that some directors of state boards have even refused to heed the summons to attend JSCP meetings and faced contempt of Parliament charges. He said the PAEC has to examine the accounts of 79 state enterprises to ensure there is no reckless misuse of public resources, but the committee is trapped with a shortage of personnel.

Anmolsingh-Mahabir said these problems were highlighted at a parliamentary workshop in Tobago in March, but the committees’ cries remain unheeded.

Deosaran said they have spoken to the President of the Senate and the House Speaker countless times about the problems they face but have reached nowhere.

“If necessary, we may take this issue here, there and everywhere to the general public. If the spirit of the Constitution is violated, there may be the possibility of the matter reaching the courts. It might reach a point where we may placard around Parliament, or sit outside the Red House like Lincoln Myers,” Deosaran said, heatedly.