THE scheduled meeting of the parliamentary political parties at the plenary level took place last Tuesday, at Office of the President, under the chairmanship of President Donald Ramotar.
After the meeting, the following joint statement was issued: The items for discussion at the meeting included:

i) AFC, APNU and the government naming their representatives to the three inter-parliamentary committees, namely – governance (non-parliamentary), parliament/constitution, and economic (excluding budget). The members of these committees are as follows:
Governance (non-parliamentary)- Dr. R. Luncheon and Minister Clement  Rohee; Mrs. Deborah Backer and Mr. E. Lance Carberry; Mr. Clayton Hall and  Mrs. Cathy Hughes.
Parliament/Constitution- Ms. Gail Teixeira and Dr. Leslie Ramsammy; Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and Mr. Haslyn Parris; Mr. Moses Nagamootoo and Mr. Nigel Hughes.
Economic (excluding budget)- Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and Minister Irfaan Ali; Mr. Carl Greenidge and Mr. Winston  Jordan;  Mr. Khemraj  Ramjattan and Mr. Gerhard  Ramsaroop.

It was agreed that all the members of these three committees will meet on Monday, February 13, 2012, to work out their modalities.

ii) With regard to the budget consultation, it was agreed that Dr. Luncheon would consult with Minister Dr. Ashni Singh on holding a meeting this week and inform the identified representatives accordingly.

iii) Size and composition of the Parliamentary Committee of Selection, chaired by the Speaker, and which is listed for election at the February 10 sitting (today).

This item was not concluded due to differing views, namely the government preferred a 10-member committee with five members for the government, four for APNU and one for the AFC. The APNU and AFC preferred a nine member committee, with four members for the government, four for APNU and one for AFC.

iv) With regard to the review of major projects as proposed by both AFC and APNU, namely scrutiny at the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services, as proposed by the AFC, or a task force as proposed by APNU, the president offered an extra-parliamentary alternative. He proposed that the technical specialists with regard to the Amaila Hydro Falls project would be prepared to make a presentation to the plenary on this project.  Following this, the plenary would discuss the next or any course of action. The AFC and APNU agreed to this proposal without prejudice to any other action. They also agreed to separately indicate, in priority order, any other projects they wished to review at the plenary.
This presentation was tentatively scheduled for February 15, 2012.

v) State of cricket administration with regard to the Interim Management Committee and the Guyana Cricket Board. This item provoked a long discussion in which a number of issues were discussed, including the need to have the constitution of the GCB completed with some alacrity. The president indicated his desire to have this issue resolved as soon as possible.
The view was also expressed that a comprehensive act of Parliament was needed to establish a legal framework for ensuring the integrity, transparency, independence and administration of all sport, not only cricket. However, exigencies of time made a separate bill on the administration of cricket desirable.

vi) With regard to the appointment of members to State boards, the president reiterated that the state boards were extended up to March 31, 2012, to allow time to consider and consult on their membership. The Head of the Presidential Secretariat committed to sharing a list of State boards with Mr. David Granger and Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan.

In conclusion, the plenary agreed to meet on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, when the AFC and APNU would present their positions with regard to GECOM’s reform.