The calendar year for Parliament has come to an end, giving members of the House of Representatives time to stage Christmas treats, including providing seasonal work for constituents, despite huge cuts in the available funds.

Many of the MPs have been complaining about the cuts in their funds for spending in their constituencies during the Yuletide season. There has been some response from the Government in terms of increased spending on beautification, in anticipation of Cricket World Cup 2007, as well as in response to the need to avoid the spread of malaria, but the common complaint is that “no money nah run.”

But what is important now is how the House and the Senate will respond to the increasing anticipation of general elections, the delay that will definitely be created by the staging of CWC 2007, and the growing political tensions within the Parliament’s chambers.

It was evident in both chambers during 2006 that the tension has risen. There is every likelihood that 2007 will be a very eventful year and a lot will depend on how the Speaker of the House, Michael Peart, and the President of the Senate, Syringa Marshall-Burnett, and their deputies rise to the occasion.

The House has been a handful for Peart since 2002, with a much larger and vocal Opposition coming out of the general election that year.

On a number of occasions, sittings have ended in uproar, one of the most notable being that which almost prematurely ended the debate on a motion from Government member, Donald Buchanan, to censure Opposition MP Karl Samuda, in October.

The Opposition walked out of the chamber and immediately hosted a news briefing in their conference room to inform the Press about the Trafigura issue, which has since become one of the biggest scandals to rock any Jamaican political party since adult suffrage in 1944.

The scandal involved a donation of some $31 million to the People’s National Party (PNP) from Dutch oil trading firm, Trafigura Beheer, which is responsible for lifting and trading oil on the international market obtained by Jamaica under a decades-long agreement with the Nigerian Government.

The only casualty of the scandal so far has been the former minister of information and development, Senator Colin Campbell, who resigned from the Cabinet but still sits in the Senate.

Samuda’s censure motion, which arose from his claim that a report from Port Authority head Noel Hylton to the Cabinet, on a massive US$43-million overrun at the Government-owned Sandals Whitehouse Hotel, has been concealed, was taken to the House’s Privileges Committee.

However, leader of the opposition, Bruce Golding, a late addition to the committee, raised the point that Samuda was already censured during the debate on the motion in the House and that the committee had no authority to punish him further. The Leader of the House, Dr Peter Phillips, has since sought advice from other Commonwealth Parliaments and the issue has since been sent back to the committee.

But the conflicts have not been limited to the House of Representatives. There has been an obvious deteriorating relationship across the floor.

It started in the House during the campaign for the leadership of the PNP, when the Leader of Opposition Business, Derrick Smith, raised concerns that the business of the House was being delayed to accommodate the leadership race. It has continued since, although recently Dr Phillips has been more active as leader, with the support of Fitz Jackson, the junior minister in finance and planning.

Both the Leader of Government Business and the Leader of Opposition Business in the House do have the will, however, to overcome the differences and seek to have a smoother 2007. But, there must be some concern about the ability of the Speaker and his deputy, OT Williams, to ensure that sittings do not deteriorate under the weight of the growing tensions.

A similar fear exists in the Senate where, although President Marshall Burnett seems to have a much tighter grip on things, probably because the Senate has been, traditionally, more aristocratic, there is evidence of growing conflict.

The emergence of the very vocal A J Nicholson as Leader of Government Business has impacted on the relationship between the leadership, which had been nurtured by his predecessor, Burchell Whiteman, and the Leader of Opposition Business, Anthony Johnson.

There has also been the addition of much more aggressive spokesmen for the Opposition, like Dr Christopher Tufton and Colonel Trevor MacMillan, who are not afraid to speak their minds on issues like corruption, victimisation and the failure of the Government to give credence to the views of the Opposition members. This is often seen as politically offensive by the Government and not in keeping with the tradition of the Senate.

The Press has also had its fair sharing of condemnation from the Parliament. None more obvious than the decision by Speaker Peart to erect a so-called “doodle door” separating journalists from their traditional recording partner, the Hansard writers.

Attempts by the Opposition to have the door removed and the Press to be allowed access to areas other than the tiny press gallery and overcrowded press room, have not moved Peart.

However, the problem that Peart faces is not so much that the Press, which he can obviously kick around the Parliament without constraint, is having limited access, but that the Opposition are becoming angry that the current situation limits the news cameras to only capturing the backs of their heads, as against the full frontal view of the Government.

There is no doubt that the Opposition is going to make this an issue next year, as they feel that they are being victimised in the coverage of the Parliament.

Peart’s decision to limit media access was triggered by a photograph appearing in the Jamaica Observer showing Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller doodling while Golding opened debate on a motion of no confidence he had brought against the Government following the Trafigura scandal.

But while the photograph angered the prime minister and the speaker, it eventually won the top news photograph award from the Press Association of Jamaica and the photographer, Observer Senior Photo Editor Michael Gordon, was congratulated by none other than the prime minister. Yet, the media continue to suffer the consequences of its publication, at Gordon House.

In the meantime, security has been boosted at Gordon House with dozens of plain clothes police, as well as uniformed police armed with M16 rifles, patrolling inside and outside the building. In addition, the media has been barred from the lobby as well as the lounge, even when only committees are meeting.

One of the interesting developments during the year was Opposition MP Verna Parchment (North West St Ann) crossing the floor to join the PNP. A rare development in modern Jamaican politics. Another Opposition MP, Abe Dabdoub (North East St Catherine), also resigned from the party, but has not joined the Government.

Norman Horne finally resigned from the Senate as JLP member and got selected to run as PNP candidate in St Elizabeth. He was replaced by former Commissioner of Police MacMillan.

Dabdoub’s most significant achievement was his tabling of a bill introducing provisions for campaign financing for the political parties. This bill, unfortunately, came about just as the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) was planning to introduce its own system of monitoring party funding. The Opposition declared that it would support the EAC instead of Dabdoub’s bill. A joint select committee, which had been planned to review the bill, has had stillbirth.

The EAC has since been transformed into a commission of Parliament, as was designated when it was created in 1979. However, the Parliament still needs to pass the bill to entrench the commission in the constitution.

During the year, a number of important pieces of legislation were passed, including the Interception of Communication Act, which will allow the security forces to conduct wiretaps, subject to court approval; the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Suppression and Punishment) Act, which is aimed at suppressing human trafficking; and social amendments covering legal aid, and protection of the mentally ill in custody.

Next year, there are some very important issues to be debated in Parliament – hopefully before the end of the parliamentary session in March.

These include the Charter of Rights report from the Joint Select Committee which looked at proposals for constitutional amendments to protect people’s rights; the Proceeds of Crime Act report from the joint select committee on provisions to allow the police to seize property owned by persons accused of criminal activities; and the amendments to the Incest (Punishment) and Offences Against the Person acts which will, among other things, widen the current definition of rape, make provisions for marital rape and make sexual offences gender neutral.

The passage of the constitutional amendments, known as the Charter of Rights, is still threatened by the complaint by some church groups that the provisions will allow for the decriminalising of homosexuality by court action, a charge which has often been denied by the Government.

Senator Nicholson has insisted that “there is no intention whatsoever, on the part of the Government, that any door should be opened to provisions… to decriminalise homosexuality or to pave the way for same-sex marriages.”

So as we look forward to 2007, we have no doubt that, as far as Parliament is concerned, it is bound to be as exciting as any election year has been in the past and, probably, even a bit more than in the past.

balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com