The House of Representatives’ Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) did not meet last Wednesday, as it was decided to give the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) more time to prepare for its presentation.

As was noted last week, representatives of the EOJ were scheduled to make a rare appearance, following the advice from Parliament’s Legislative Counsel Camika Facey, that two motions which had been tabled in the House by South West St Catherine Member of Parliament (MP) Everald Warmington should be dealt with by the committee.

Warmington’s Private Member’s Motion Number three and Private Member’s Motion Number 12, both tabled in the House on March 19, ask that: emolument paid to ECJ commissioners should be commensurate with the part-time jobs the commissioners perform, and in line with that paid to members of other governmental commissions and members serving on government boards; the Wig and Robe Allowance now being paid to the commissioners be discontinued; immediate action be taken to terminate the payments being made from the public purse to the political representatives or the ‘nominated members’ on the ECJ; if such salaries and allowances are deemed necessary, they be paid by their respective political parties; and that the ECJ (interim) Act be amended to delete section 1(1)(a) of the First Schedule, and any other sections that may make reference to, or empower political representatives to sit on the commission.

PAAC chairman Edmund Bartlett said that the failure to have the meeting had nothing to do with any resistance on the part of the EOJ to attend, but that, in the context of the severity of the issues, they would need another two weeks to research and provide the necessary information.

“On reflection, we felt that the postponement was necessary, because this is not an easy matter to deal with, especially as it will not be in-camera,” Bartlett said.

The motions could present a serious challenge to the efficacy of the current arrangement under which the ECJ operates, by removing the powers shared by the representatives of the political parties, requesting that the political parties bear the expenses of their representatives and reducing the salaries paid to all the commissioners.

Bartlett said that the EOJ is expected to attend the next meeting, on Wednesday, November 4, when the issue is expected to be resolved. This will be followed by a report from the committee to the House of Representatives. If the resolutions are approved, the proposals will be forwarded to the Cabinet.

Senate misunderstanding

There was some misunderstanding last week in the Press, as it was suggested that a meeting of the Senate scheduled for last Friday was cancelled. However, there was no cancellation, as no meeting was scheduled.

The Senate last adjourned on November 15 for “a date to be fixed”, and no date has been set for its next meeting.

Questions

Opposition members of parliament have not been very active in terms of tabling questions in the House of Representatives recently, despite the numerous issues in the public domain. This must be a cause for concern.

There had been just a single question on the Question Paper for weeks, as the Opposition MPs focused on their internal leadership election. That question was from Opposition MP Desmond McKenzie (Western Kingston), on the issue of the employment of former People’s National Party Youth Organisation (PNPYO) president Junior Rose as a senior director in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

Interestingly, at Question Time on Tuesday, Leader of the House Phillip Paulwell informed the Speaker that the answers were available and would be shared by the Minister of Local Government and Community Development Noel Arscott at a later time, as the minister was not present in the House at the time. However, the sitting ended with no explanation and no answers from Arscott to the questions.

Incidentally, a second set of questions was tabled Tuesday by Opposition MP Gregory Mair (North East St Catherine) concerning the appointment of a director general at the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).

Mair is asking the prime minister: how long was the former director general serving in that capacity and why was his contract not renewed for another three to seven years?

This raises a very important issue, as it was stated that Albert Gordon succeeded Ahmad Zia Mian, who served as director general from 2009 to 2013, and Maurice Charvis, deputy director general, who has been serving as director general in the interim.

But Charvis only served as director general for eight months before being reverted to his former post of deputy director general, without any explanation.

It is also important to note that Gordon comes to the OUR from the National Water Commission (NWC) where he was president while, according to the performance report tabled recently by Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis, the NWC breached a number of OUR rulings including using K-Factor funds for paying internal bills such electricity, and dumping the K-Factor funds into its general revenues when they are specifically designated for dealing with non-revenue water.

It will certainly be interesting to hear the prime minister’s explanation of these developments, and how the Opposition responds to her explanations.

And, on the issue of the prime minister, although she attended Tuesday’s sitting there was no statement on her recent visit to Japan, an issue which the Opposition failed to raise, despite the consistent lack of information from her to the House on her various trips abroad.

THIS WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

* The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) committee meets on Tuesday morning at nine o’clock, followed by the sitting of the House of Representatives at 2:00 pm.

* The Public Administration & Appropriations Committee (PAAC) meets at 10:00 am on Wednesday, followed by a meeting of the Joint Select Committee on INDECOM at 2:00 pm.

* The Joint Select Committee on the ‘Suppression of Criminal Organisations (Anti Gang)’ bill meets on Thursday at 2:00 .m.

There is no meeting of the Senate scheduled for this week.

BARTLETT… on reflection, we felt that the postponement was necessary, because this is not an easy matter to deal with, especially as it will not be in-camera

ARSCOTT… did not answer question on employment of former PNPYO president Junior Rose as a senior director in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development

GORDON… succeeded Ahmad Zia Mian as OUR director general