Valley: It’s September 12 Saith: No way

The two leaders of Government business in Parliament have given contradicting statements on when Parliament will be prorogued. Contrary to statements made by Ken Valley on Friday, Dr Lenny Saith announced yesterday that Parliament will not be prorogued this Friday. It is understood that the Cabinet is expected to discuss at its regular Thursday meeting, a proposal to have the Parliament prorogued on September 17. Saith’s disclosure came in response to a request from Opposition Senator, Robin Montano, to have the Standing Orders suspended to allow all questions on the Order Paper to be answered.  Question time ceases at 2.15 pm — 45 minutes after the Parliament begins — according to the Standing Orders.

Montano noted that the newspapers reported that the Parliament was to be prorogued this Friday. However Saith rose to give the assurance that Parliament would not be prorogued this Friday. There would be a sitting of the Senate next week, he stressed. “I too read it (that the Parliament would be prorogued on Friday) in the newspapers. I also read in the newspapers that the UNC was going to find a new leader,” he teased. Parliamentary experts stated that Parliament could not have possibly been prorogued this Friday because the Report of the Finance Committee for the supplementation of the 2003 Appropriation has to be debated and passed in both Houses. The House Finance Committee meets today in closed session to discuss the Report. The Report is to be presented for discussion in the House of Representatives on Friday and then it has to go to Senate next week Tuesday.

Saith later described Valley’s announcement, which came in defence of Government’s lack of legislation, as “premature.” In a related development, Government yesterday was forced to pull back the Report of the Joint Select Committee to consider and report on the Police Bill. The Report had caused some controversy in the House of Representatives last week after it was discovered that it didn’t have the required signatures to be properly tabled.  Obviously determined to embarrass the Attorney General, the Opposition in the Senate (as it did in the House) raised objections after the AG presented the motion to have the Senate accept the Report.  Senator Wade Mark pointed out that the Senate had not been given “one clear day’s” notice in which to consider the Report as required by the Standing Orders, which basically asked the Parliament to allow the Committee to continue doing its work. Mark argued that as a member of that Committee, he was not consulted about the Report. In fact, he stated, the last time the Committee met was in May. “It tells me of a political attitude bordering on arrogance and reflects an undemocratic approach,” he said.

He added that because  Government was able to get a quorum of six signatures from among its members and from the Independent Senator on the committee, the Chairman of the committe (the AG) decided to bypass  the Opposition. Saying that he had no difficulty in signing the Report, Mark invoked Standing Order 75 (which deals with the need to give notice) to allow the AG to bring a Report with the signatures of all the members attached. Saith said it was never the intention of the Government to ride roughshod over the Opposition. He suggested that the Senate deal with the motion to accept the Report at its sitting next week.