Govt moves to court over parliamentary committee

The government has filed a motion against the leader of the opposition and the speaker of the National Assembly challenging the composition of the Committee of Selection in parliament.

The governing party is contending that the opposition is in violation of the principle of proportionality of parties and their seating in parliament and in committees of parliament.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Anil Nandlall filed a notice of motion against David Granger, Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Raphael Trotman the Leader of the list of candidates of the Alliance for Change and Speaker of the National Assembly.

The motion is seeking several orders in the matter of Articles 8, 60, 119A, 119B, and 160 of the Constitution of Guyana, the Standing Orders of the National Assembly of Guyana and the Manual of the Rules, Procedures and Operations of Committees of the Parliament of Guyana.

The court document is seeking “A declaration that all Standing Committees and Special Select Committees of the National Assembly of the 10th Parliament of Guyana are to be constituted in proportion to the number of seats which each political party was allocated in the said National Assembly based upon the results of the General Elections held on November 28th, 2011, and in accordance with the provisions of Articles 60 and 160 of the Constitution of Guyana and the provisions of the Elections Laws (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2000”.

The motion is also asking for the February 10 composition of the committee of selection, which was done by an election of voting, be declared a violation of the principle of proportionality. The opposition had used its majority in parliament to have the committee composed of four PPP seats, four APNU seats and one AFC seat as opposed to the governing party’s proposed ten seats (five PPP, four APNU and one AFC).

The court papers is asking for an order to have this decision revoked, cancelled or annulled since it violates the constitution and other elections laws acts. Granger, Trotman and/or their representatives have to respond to the motion. Finally, the motion is seeking costs and such further or other reliefs the court deems just in the circumstances.

The move to the court is one step by the government in confronting what it calls the “wrong doings” of the opposition parliamentary parties, namely the AFC and APNU.

“The collaboration between the parties in opposition to the governing party in parliament was leading to grossly unprincipled actions and that was a conclusion by cabinet members at its meetings of March 6,” Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon stated at his post cabinet briefing on Wednesday.

“Cabinet’s specific attention was paid to the betrayal of parliamentary norms and the abuse of constitutional provisions in the decisions by the combined opposition on proportionality of seats of the two parties in the parliamentary committees,” Luncheon added.

The motion filed on Wednesday will be heard by Chief Justice Ian Chang on March 16. Simultaneous to the filing of the motion in the High Court, the PPP has moved motions in Parliament questioning the decisions by the opposition on the committees and requesting the House to declare them null and void.