Dear Editor,
I take this opportunity to thank you for publishing my letters and to wish you and staff a productive and rewarding 2024.
Editor, the year 2023 has ended and many Committees of the National Assembly have not completed their assignments. One such Committee is the ‘Committee on Appointments.’
The Committee on Appointments is a standing committee of the national assembly with responsibility for the appointment of constitutional bodies such as the Ethnic Relations Commission, Rights of the Child Commission, Women and Gender Commission, Indigenous People’s Commission, the Judicial Service Commission, the Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission.
Editor, the 19th meeting of the Committee on Appointments was held in April 2023 and arrangements for consultations on the appointments to the Rights of the Child Commission were finalised. On May 8th, 2023, members of the Committee on Appointments, with the assistance of support staff from the Parliament Office, briefed clusters of representatives from Youth and Women’s organisations, Professional Bodies and the Private Sector, on the Committee’s agreed guidelines. Each of those clusters set their timelines for meeting subsequently to select their representative on the Commission. Despite the Committee on Appointments’ decision not to politicise the process, it was alleged that the Chairperson, Ms. Gail Teixeira, attempted to hijack the selection process for the youth nominee. Kudos must be given to the Coordinator of the youth cluster, Mr. Clayton Halley, who did not allow the process to be hijacked by Ms. Texiera. Mr. Halley held firmly to the guidelines agreed on by members of the Committee on Appointments and completed the selection process. Reports on the selection process, and the particulars of the agreed nominee, have since been submitted to the Clerk of the National Assembly by the coordinators of the aforementioned clusters.
Editor, since the revelations of the attempted hijacking of the youth nominee selection process became public, the Chairperson, Ms. Gail Teixeira, is yet to convene a meeting of the Committee on Appointments, to formally prepare the submission of the list of nominees for the approval of Parliament. She has stalled the process without any explanation to Committee Members, thereby impeding the appointment of members to this critical Commission. I am publicly requesting Ms. Texeira to facilitate the urgent completion of this appointment process.
It is also prudent that I remind readers that there are many unfulfilled promises by the PPP/C. One such is the establishment of the Constitutional Reform Commission. The sum of $150M was appropriated in the 2023 National Budget and work was scheduled to commence in September 2023. However, we recently learned from the Attorney General, Mr. Anil Nandlall, MP, that the President has apologized for the delay. The government also promised a ‘robust’ Parliament. But evidence shows that from August 2020 to December 2023, the National Assembly had seventy (70) sittings, of that total, sixteen (16) were convened in 2023. With many issues, at the macro and micro levels, affecting our nation, it appears that the PPP/C government has no interest in engaging the National Assembly to address the well-being of citizens or the development of Guyana as a whole. The National Assembly is only convened back-to-back, or mere days apart, for budget presentations and requests for excessive and unsupported supplementary budget approvals.
Editor, the PPP/C cabal appears to be making national decisions at the level of their political party, contrary to the constitution. They must be held accountable in 2024.
Yours truly,
Annette Ferguson
Member of Parliament
