THE decision of the Joint Select Committee reviewing the proposed constitutional changes, known as the Charter of Rights, to prolong its activities to March 8, raises some concerns about whether the committee will be able to complete its work during the current session.

Its initial intent, it seems, was to wrap up its work by March 31, and was actually well on the way, untill the previously little known National Church Alliance threw a spanner into the works.

With the next meeting nearly three weeks away, and with the alliance taking issue with so many aspects of the charter, it seems likely will extend the work of the committee into the next parliamentary session, when a new committee will have to be appointed, likely leading to another lengthy delay.

While it is important that all Jamaicans be allowed to participate in matters concerning such fundamental legal changes, it is unfortunate that the alliance could only summon up enough strength to publicly oppose the charter days before it’s last scheduled meeting.

It probably reflects on the inability of sections of the religious community to focus on serious national issues, until they what they perceive as threats to their religious tenets, arise – and then they turn to mass organisation.

Not only is it unfair to the members of the committee for the alliance to spring this action at the eleventh hour, but it is also disingenuous for them to give the public the impression that their main objection to the charter is that of the issue of homosexual rights.

The fact is that the alliance has 12 objections, some of which are likely more serious concerns to Christians than the homosexuality issue. These include: possible decriminalisation of abortion; employers could be forced to hire persons not of their choice; church-owned schools could be prevented from having devotions or teaching religious education; the preaching of the gospel could be described as “hate speech” and could be severely curtailed; pastors could be exposed to personal risks and liabilities; and church leaders could become targets of persecution.

These issues tugs at the heart of the charter and, if the action develops into an orchestrated opposition to the proposals, it will mean another lengthy delay after more than a decade of deliberations.

An interesting note is that the alliance does not seem to have the support of traditional churches like the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Seventh-Day Adventists or even the majority of evangelicals.… Laptop agreement

The House of Representatives agreed on Tuesday to allow for the use of laptops by members before the end of the current session. However, there are a number of issues which are still being debated.

The primary concerns centred on whether the members should be allowed to access the internet during sittings, for which there was both bipartisan support and objection; the other was whether the members should accept laptops from Cable & Wireless Jamaica and other telecommunication firms.

Leader of Government Business Dr. Peter Phillips, who also chaired the House Committee which reviewed the matter and recommended the use of the laptops in its report, said members would not be allowed to access the internet during sittings.

“It is expected that every Member of Parliament, while in the chamber, is fixed intently on the work that is going on in here; so it is not to be used as a diversion,” Phillips warned.

Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding seemed to agree with Phillips.

“I believe that we are still going to have to require that the Speaker give some sanction for the individual use of laptops by members, or otherwise I am concerned as to what the chamber is going to begin to look like, and the fact that the kind of interaction that needs to take place among the people’s representatives will not be there,” Golding commented.

The Opposition Leader said that he had no quarrel with the committee’s report, as Parliament cannot be a bystander while technology moves ahead, but he cautioned that it will be necessary to place great responsibility on the shoulders of the Speaker.

Otherwise, there is the danger of the chamber, said Golding, that “instead of looking like the Parliament it is supposed to be, is going to begin to look like a computer lab, and I don’t think that that was the intention of Parliament.”

But, Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology. Phillip Paulwell said that the members should have access to the internet during sittings.

“The most important reference source is the internet,” he pointed out. “There can be no restrictions in relation to access to internet.”

He was supported by both Dr Morais Guy (PNP-Central St Mary), whose resolution prompted the House Committee’s review, and by Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs Karl Samuda.

The plan, says Paulwell, is for members, once they enter the chamber, to have broadband access to the internet free of cost.

He announced that Cable & Wireless Jamaica has offered – “and, I am sure the Parliament will want me to agree on their behalf,” he said – to provide a hot spot facility for the entire Parliament.

He added that Cable & Wireless was also likely to be the first source of laptops and that by the next sitting of the House, on February 28, the Speaker, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the House, the Leader of Government Business in the Senate and the Leaders of Opposition Business in both houses will have their laptops, free.

He said that there is another source to supply other members, but that will be indicated later.

“Want to see, one day, a paperless Parliament,” said Paulwell. “It can happen in our lifetime and we are trying to facilitate that.”