Govt told to get its house in order

PARLIAMENT resumed yesterday with a series of stinging attacks against Attorney General Glenda Morean by former AG Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Persad-Bissessar sharply criticised Government’s skimpy legislative programme, saying that it could not be serious about the people’s business. “Get yuh house in order!” she roared, noting that there had been very few Bills of substance over the past year. It was “disgraceful,” she charged, adding that hundreds of pieces of legislation were “sitting down” in the Attorney General’s department. Leader of Government Business, Ken Valley, in offering an excuse for the scant programme, stated that Government saw little sense in bringing important Bills after the six-week break because of the imminent prorogation of Parliament.

He announced that Parliament will be prorogued on September 12  and that there would be a ceremonial opening on September 29. “Would (former President) Robinson be coming?” Couva South MP, Kelvin Ramnath asked with a hint of mischievousness in his voice. The Budget would be brought in the new session. But Valley’s explanation only added fuel to Persad-Bissessar’s fire. “So the Parliament had a break of six weeks and you ready to shut it down again.  So because we are having a prorogation we must do nothing. We could have brought the declaration forms for the Integrity Commission,” the UNC MP thundered. Furthermore she pointed out that Valley’s justification conflicted with reasons given by the AG in a Newsday article. The Attorney General in an article published on Thursday blamed the feeble parliamentary agenda on the tardiness of the Legislative Review Committee.