THE House of Representatives will on July 25 debate the Opposition censure motion brought against Industry, Commerce, Science and Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell.

Acting Leader of the House Fitz Jackson announced the date on the motion for the adjournment of yesterday’s lengthy sitting, which heard four speakers in the current sectoral debate before adjourning minutes after 8:00 pm.

The censure motion was brought by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on finance and the public service, Audley Shaw, on June 27. It seeks to censure Paulwell for “misleading” the House in a statement on March 14, in which he said that the distribution of sub-standard cement from the Caribbean Cement Company Limited was confined to a batch of 500 tonnes produced between February 23 and February 25.

Shaw’s motion said that, as the Opposition had previously asserted, the period dates back to October, 2005 and that “has now been confirmed by a special investigative committee appointed by the minister”.

The motion also claimed that the disruption in cement supplies resulting from the ensuing shortage of cement could have been avoided if the minister had “properly discharged his duties”.