– 𝐎𝐧 𝐅𝐆𝐌’𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬

-by Radha Motielall

Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairman of the Committee of Selection Hon. Manzoor Nadir has called out opposition MP and Chief Whip, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley for a disingenuous attempt to mislead the public.

The matter pertains to the exclusion of Forward Guyana Movement leader and lone representative in the House, Amanza Walton-Desir from any of the parliamentary committees recently appointed.

Sarabo-Halley recently took to social media trying to discredit the work of the Chairman of the Committee of Selection, by claiming that he was in breach of standing order 80-5 during the recent reconstitution of the parliamentary committees.

According to the WIN Chief Whip, while the FGM was excluded based on the parliamentary calculations for seats on the committees, WIN wanted Walton-Desir to sit in their space on some of the committees.

She claims, however, that the speaker did not allow this and was therefore in breach of the standing order which says any member of the assembly, elected or non-elected, is eligible for membership of any committee.

“There is no standing orders, there is no rule, there is no sections of the standing orders that indicates that there is exception to that particular rule,” Sarabo-Halley claims.

Speaker Manzoor Nadir, however, noted that Sarabo-Halley ‘conveniently’ left out some important words from that standing order, and that is (Unless and Otherwise provided in the Standing Orders).

He said, “If she was genuine, she would have gone to Standing Order 94-1, which says that the committees of parliament must reflect the composition of parliament.”

Nadir also stated that the calculations used to allocate seats on Committees were not invented by himself but are in fact long standing convention which he complies with.

Further, he advises Sarabo-Halley to be genuine by reflecting and reporting exactly what the rules are and not omitting significant parts of it.

He says her entire presentation on the matter was a disservice to the Leader of the Opposition.