KINGSTON, Jamaica –Two motions from Government back-bencher MP, Raymond Pryce, which had been on the House of Representatives’ Order Paper for months, were finally approved to be sent to appropriate committees of the House, yesterday.

The first motion sought to have the House take steps to rename the annual Throne Speech, the People’s Speech.

The Throne Speech is the presentation made in Parliament at the start of the fiscal year, normally April 1, by the Governor General. It precedes the tabling of the annual budget, or Estimates of Expenditure, outlining the government’s priorities for the financial/parliamentary year.

Pryce said that nowhere else in the Commonwealth is the name, Throne Speech, used. He urged the Parliament to acknowledge that “the priorities, projects, policies and programmes contained therein are designed, in good faith, by the Government elected by the very people of Jamaica”.

His other motion called on the House to debate the need for legislation that would require civil society groups, special interest groups and lobby groups “to protect Jamaica’s democracy from any such compromise, as could be caused by unknown or tainted sources of funds or hidden agendas”.

Speaker of the House, Michael Peart, will eventually decide which committee will review the proposals.

 Balford Henry