–Minister Teixeira clarifies

MINISTER of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, in responding to the impromptu concerns of the Alliance For Change (AFC) regarding the dormancy of some parliamentary committees, has clarified that those inactive committees are chaired by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) + AFC Members of Parliament.

Chairperson of the AFC, Cathy Hughes, at a recent press conference, said: “[We] find it reprehensible and unacceptable that several parliamentary sectoral committees are comatose or have never seen the light of day more than two years later.

“At the most critical time in this nation’s history, at a time when we face a rapidly developing oil- and-gas sector, one which is currently plagued by a lack of transparency in the publishing of government contracts and feasibility studies, the Natural Resources committee has never met.”

Regarding the natural resources sector, the government has been consistent in its release of information, especially figures and decisions related to Guyana’s oil-and-gas sector.
And while this is the case, also cognisant of the importance of parliamentary committees in the process of governance, Minister Teixeira said: “They complain about a number of things in a press statement I saw coming out of the APNU+AFC about a number of the committees and they talk about PAC.

“What they seem to forget is that a number of the committees that are being headed by government ministers are meeting. And there are a number of committees headed by Opposition members such as in the sectoral committees have not been meeting. Some have not met for over a year.”

Hughes referenced the Foreign Relations Committee, noting that it was never convened. But, according to the Parliament of Guyana’s website, the committee was chaired by the AFC’s own Raphael Trotman and included coalition parliamentarians Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Devin Sears and Amanza Walton-Desir.

Further, regarding the Economic Services Committee to which she also drew attention, the last- named Chairman was the APNU+AFC’s Shurwayne Holder, while Opposition Members of Parliament Haimraj Rajkumar, Juretha Fernandes and Dineshwar Jaiprashad were committee members.

Minister Teixeira said: “So, it’s rather convenient when they make these statements about the committee system. But at the crux of it all is that Mr Norton [Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton] appears to prefer to use forums where no one has a chance to respond to him.

“So he goes to Mocha, he makes comments, he goes here and there and makes comments and attacks and talks about the government in very pejorative and negative ways. But he’s not prepared to come on a face-to-face [basis] and to be able to be a Leader of Opposition as he’s supposed to, and to be able to defend his positions in a public forum, where persons may be there who don’t agree with him. And so more and more, I am beginning to think that the opposition [leader] has a streak of cowardice running down the back of his neck.”