The Consideration of Estimates for the Constitutional Agencies was
today stalled in the 99th sitting of the National Assembly following a
request by the opposition side of the House to have copies of each
agency’s budget delivered via email before the commencement of the
debate.
Speaker of the House, Dr. Barton Scotland said any attempt at delving
into the budget of the Constitutional Agencies line by line will not
be done. He reminded that it was agreed by both sides that this will
not be done.
The Speaker said too, members cannot be allowed to renege on their agreement.
Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo said the opposition’s action appears
to be an indictment of the government, which has nothing to do with
the distribution of the documents.
He explained that the files, which are large in size had to be
dissected in order to be sent to the individual members, a task which
was executed by the staff of the parliament.
The proceedings of the 99th Sitting of the National Assembly were
earlier today suspended to allow a meeting of the committee in an
attempt to meet an agreement.
After more than two hours of deliberations, the Speaker returned to
the House and indicated that agreement was not yet met. The sitting
was again suspended for an hour.
Upon resumption, the opposition indicated to the House that
Consideration of Estimates will not begin until they have received
electronic copies of the agencies’ budgets.
The Committee of Supply is presently considering the estimates of the
constitutional agencies.
