Wykeham McNeill| Let the Committees’ convention stand

“Quite as important as legislation is vigilant oversight of administration. There is some scandal and discomfort, but infinite advantage, in having every affair of administration subjected to the test of constant examination on the part of the Assembly, which represents the nation.”

– Woodrow Wilson

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion over the decision of the Andrew Holness administration to discontinue the convention started by Bruce Golding in 2007 to have the Opposition chair the sessional select oversight committees of Parliament.

The prime minister, in his presentation to Parliament, stated that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) would be spared due to the fact that they had been meeting frequently and regularly and that the other committee – Economy and Production, Human Resources and Social Development, Infrastructure, and the Internal and External Affairs committees – had not been meeting.

This position put forward by the prime minister is disingenuous as he and the leader of Government business in the House know that this has not been the fault of the committees named or the chairmen. There are fundamental problems in the Parliament that will not be resolved by changing the chairman, namely:

1. The clerk of the House is adamant that no committee meetings can be held on Mondays or Fridays. This leaves Tuesday through Thursday. The PAC meets regularly on a Tuesday and the PAAC on a Wednesday, leaving little occasion for the other committees to meet.

2. Also, the government and opposition members that occupy these committees come from the back bench as per the standing orders so that these members occupy multiple committees, and given their other responsibilities as members of Parliament, it is often difficult to get a quorum.

Therefore, it is obvious that changing the chairmanship for the stated reason of no meetings is a subterfuge to simply limit oversight. I would suggest to the prime minister that he instead resolve the root problems to ensure a more efficient and effective Parliament. He could do so by:

a) Allowing committee meetings to be held at sites or in meeting rooms other than the Parliament such as was done when the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Act was being amended or now that the Parliament is meeting at the conference centre.

b) Change the Standing Orders to allow senators to sit on the committees, which would allow for a wider pool of expertise and facilitate a quorum and diversity at the meetings.

c) Reduce the number of sessional committees by amalgamating the Human Resources and Social Development committee into the Internal and External Affairs committees so that in the end, there will only be five oversight committees: the PAC, PAAC, the Infrastructure, the Economy, and Human Resources and Internal Affairs committees.

UNCOMFORTABLE

There is no doubt that given the findings of the Public Accounts Committee and the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, the Government is uncomfortable with oversight of its operations. But the committees did not commit the transgressions. They simply brought them to light. This is the fundamental role of Parliament, both government and opposition, to ensure that our taxpayers’ money (constituents’ taxes) are well spent and not leaked out in inefficiencies and corruption.

The other fundamental positives of these committees properly supported and allowed to meet and function is that they can help with governance. For example, the Infrastructure Committee could examine why our new carpets, I mean roads, are falling apart so quickly. This is a discussion our constituents would want to see happen. The Human Resources Committee could look into meeting and taking submissions from teachers, students, parent-teacher associations and the general public and determine how we move forward with education post COVID-19 and how we can ensure efficient Internet coverage for our schools and students. And the Economy and Production Committee could examine how the tourism sector is going to recover and why six years after the PNP administration opened the cannabis industry, nothing has happened.

I implore the prime minister, do not change the convention. You cannot expect the government members as chairmen to provide oversight of their colleague ministers. This would put them in an invidious position. It is bad enough for you as a Prime Minister to find corruption in your administration, but at least you can act on it. It is a totally different matter when you take steps to try and limit its exposure.

Over to you, prime minister!

Dr Wykeham McNeill is Vice-President of the People’s National Party and the former Member of Parliament for Western Westmoreland. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com