Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday announced new measures aimed at fulfilling his Government’s commitment to give the Opposition more authority in Parliament, a development that, he said, will strengthen the legislature.

“After 45 years of independence, I think it will be useful for us to do a comprehensive review of the Standing Orders,” the prime minister said in reference to Parliament’s rule book.

Among the new changes he announced were:

. having all select committees of the House of Representatives chaired by an Opposition MP as of next week;

. amending the Standing Orders to allow backbenchers the right to be heard at the discretion of the speaker, instead of having to table Private Members Motions and await their disposal weeks later;

. Rearranging the table of precedence in the House to give the leader of the Opposition, the speaker and his deputy and the president of the Senate and his deputy more recognition.

Golding said that these changes, and others which will follow, are in keeping with his commitment to strengthen Parliament by giving the Opposition a louder voice.

“We do not strengthen Parliament, if that strength is to be exerted by the governing majority in Parliament. The strength of a Parliament is a coefficient of the strength of the Opposition,” the prime minister said as he addressed yesterday’s opening session of the new Parliament.

He said that, in keeping with the commitment that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) made prior to the September 3 general elections, next week, the leader of the House, Derrick Smith, will be moving to have Opposition MPs appointed to chair all select committees.

These include the public administration and appropriations; internal and external affairs; economy and production; human resources and social development; and infrastructure and physical development committees.

In addition, he said that discussions will be held on the chairmanship of the sessional committees, some of which are stipulated by the Standing Orders. For example, the speaker must chair the Standing Orders and Privileges committees, while the House leader must chair the House Committee.

Golding said that previously the House had been short-changing backbenchers, by requiring that they table Private Members Motions which remain on the Order Paper for weeks and, most times, are never debated.

“Ministers are entitled, under the Standing Orders, to get up in Parliament and make statements to Parliament,” said Golding. “A member of parliament can’t. A member of parliament has to appeal to the speaker and sometimes has to, in a sense, induce the speaker to allow the rules to be bent in order to speak to the nation about the people who sent him here to represent them. I have always felt that is wrong, because we all come in here as 60 persons equally elected. None any more elected than the other.”

The Government is advocating that Parliament amend the Standing Orders to allow any member to be able to rise in the chamber, without having to give notice of a resolution, and to request permission to address the House on a particular matter.

However, he admitted that this change would have to be regulated and “managed with some discipline”.

In addition, he said that the Government wanted a time limit for backbenchers’ resolutions to be debated, with sanctions to be imposed if that requirement is not met.

“It’s all part of what we call a framework of good governance,” said the prime minister. “We were committed to it before the election.”

He said that the order of precedence in Parliament will also be rearranged, so that the leader of the opposition will have the same status as the deputy prime minister.

In addition, the speaker of the House and the president of the Senate will have status similar to that of Cabinet ministers, while their deputies will be on the same level as junior ministers.

But, Golding explained, this has nothing to do with emoluments, only the order of precedence in Parliament.