George Davis | Samuda's excuse doesn't cut it

When Bruce Golding presented his 'framework for good governance' in the run-up to the 2007 general election, he spoke earnestly about the need to give the parliamentary Opposition more power to impact the business of the country. Critical to this was Golding's pledge that if the Jamaica Labour Party were elected on September 3 that year, he would ensure that all sessional and special select committees of Parliament be chaired by a member of the Opposition.

Through Bruce's eyes, this would ensure more diligent oversight of Government's work. No doubt, this plank of Bruce's good-governance framework was influenced by the tremendous work done by Audley Shaw as chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In the event we forgot, Shaw, an opposition MP, was appointed under the People's National Party (PNP) administration in 1995 to serve as PAC chairman.

HAWKISH SHAW

It was a move they must have regretted many times over, given Shaw's nose for unearthing mismanagement in the expenditure of public funds. With the hawkish Shaw revelling in his role, the Jamaican public got a demonstration of how the Opposition could be effective, beyond hurling insults.

So Audley helped to show Bruce how having an opposition MP in charge of an important committee could influence public perception that a government overseen by an aggressive and empowered opposition equalled Parliament working at its best.

In Britain, of its 20 select parliamentary committees now active, seven are chaired by MPs from the Opposition Labour party, two are led by MPs from the Scottish National Party, one by an MP from the Liberal Democrats, and the remaining 10 by MPs from the governing Conservative party.

In Canada, the chairmanship of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, along with the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, are all reserved for opposition MPs.

Bruce kept the bulk of his promise, and the PAC apart, there was an opposition chairman for the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, the Internal and External Affairs Committee, the Economy & Production Committee, the Human Resources and Social Development Committee, and the Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee. In his New Year's Day message in 2008, Bruce noted that a fresh start was being made by his administration in the area of governance.

I say he kept the bulk of his promise because he had also promised to amend the Standing Orders to concretise this arrangement whereby the appointment of an opposition MP to chair a committee could not be changed by the House leader just because he or she felt like it.

Well, that is effectively what is happening now. The current leader of the governing side of the House of Representatives, Karl Samuda, says committees that impact directly on policy, like the Economy and Production Committee and the Infrastructure and Physical Development Committee, ought to be chaired by government MPs. Funny that the two committees cited by Samuda are two of those that the Golding administration facilitated being led by members from the Opposition benches. The PNP has, correctly, signalled its intention to go to war if the custom of the last 10 years is changed.

It requires more from Samuda than the comments he has made already to justify why the convention applicable in the Parliament since 2008 is to now be changed.

He can say that neither Canada nor Britain grants chairmanship of all sessional parliamentary committees to opposition MPs. But in those two countries, the system in place works well in facilitating a strong democracy and robust oversight. So, too, has the convention worked in the Jamaican Parliament, where the Opposition is empowered to hold the Government to account.

The public should be told why this must now change.

Selah.

- George Davis is a broadcast executive producer and talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and george.s.davis@hotmail.com.