KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Jamaican Parliament made history today (April 7), with its first virtual parliamentary meeting, using the remote conferencing platform, Zoom.

 The Special Select Committee reviewing developments relating to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) used the platform for its weekly meeting.

This development followed last week’s statement by Leader of the House of Representatives Karl Samuda that the Parliament was not yet at the stage for conducting its business using the technology. However, he said that if the need arose a collective decision would be made.

Gordon House said that the new measure was the latest in its efforts to modernize its operations, and increase its use of information and communication technology (ICT). It added meeting virtually would allow the members of the committee to adhere to physical distancing guidelines.

Another parliamentary committee, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Opposition Member of Parliament Mark Golding, had postponed its meeting originally planned for this morning, after insisting on the use of the Zoom technology to allow its members to follow the distancing guidelines.

BALFORD HENRY