– Harmon says committees meeting but are boycotted by opposition members

MINISTER of State Joseph Harmon has confirmed that Parliament is functioning as per normal but there is not enough government business to call a sitting of the National Assembly.

“Once there is government business to be conducted in the National Assembly, it will be called and we will meet…we have business, but not enough to call a sitting,” said Harmon during a post-ministerial plenary press briefing on Friday.

There have been contentions that there should not be sittings of the National Assembly following the no-confidence vote which is being challenged in the Appeal Court. At the level of the High Court, Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire in upholding the Speaker’s decision that the no- confidence motion was validly passed, said that Cabinet is separate from government and should resign. Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams, however, applied for a stay of the judgment passed by the chief justice, as well as a conservatory order for the government to remain in office until the appeals are heard.

Harmon said the Parliament is functioning and the business of the government will determine when there will be a sitting. As an example, the minister said there is a Food Safety Bill which was finalised and will eventually reach the floor of the National Assembly at an appropriate time, when there are enough items on the agenda to call the sitting.
“We started passing bills at the beginning of the year…there are other bills that are being dealt with and will go to the National Assembly as part of government’s legislative agenda,” said Harmon, adding that if the Parliament does not meet, the agenda will be affected.
Questioned as to whether discussions surrounding General and Regional Elections could cause a sitting of the National Assembly, Harmon said it would be premature to discuss elections because the government has challenged the validity of the no-confidence motion in the courts.

Although there are no scheduled sittings, he confirmed that arms of the National Assembly have been meeting, even though those meetings have been boycotted by the opposition. According to Harmon, the Committees of Management and Appointments have met, but they were boycotted by members of the opposition who claimed that they were “busy.”
Members of the opposition have been reluctant to attend those meetings, but Harmon said officials on the government side are still open to discussions.

NATIONAL INTEREST
Harmon pointed out that President David Granger has always made himself available to meet with Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo on matters of national interest. “President Granger has never made a statement saying that he will not meet with the opposition leader; in fact, the last meeting was at the request of the leader of the opposition and I asked him to cite the items he wants to address,” said the minister of state, noting that the President will always be willing to meet with the opposition leader to discuss matters of national Interest. He believes that Jagdeo has been setting his own limits by saying that he will meet with the President only to discuss certain issues.