GOVERNMENT and Opposition legislators engaged in a verbal tussle over the composition of Parliament’s sessional committees — in particular who should chair them — during Tuesday’s sitting of the House on Representatives.

The back-and-forth started in the wake of a motion moved by Leader of Government Business in the House Floyd Green, to name members to the committees.

This has been a contentious issue dating back to the last Parliament when Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness broke with recent convention and appointed Government members to chair most of the sessional committees.

The exceptions were the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) — and that will again be the case this time around.

Among other things, the Opposition members argued that the Government risked blurring the lines of the separation of powers doctrine, resulting in less transparency and accountability.

Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell argued that the naming of the chairs for the committees by Green was a breach of Parliament’s Standing Orders which state that the leaders of these committes should be decided by members at the first sitting of each committee.

“Minister, I don’t think it is appropriate for us at this point to be voting in relation to the chairmen of committees,” Paulwell told Green.

“It’s a policy and it has to be based on the greater principle of openness, accountability and a full separation of powers — checks and balance,” added Paulwell.

He argued further that the separation of powers doctrine is not only theory, but rather the “safeguard of our democracy”.

According to Paulwell, it was never the intention for Cabinet members, state ministers, and parliamentary secretaries to be a part of oversight committees.

“This, notwithstanding the Standing Orders, can’t continue. It is improper for ministers to be a part of the oversight of these committees and it is totally unacceptable,” Paulwell declared.

He also pointed to the convention started by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding in 2007 when oversight committees were chaired by Opposition members. That continued with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller between 2012 and 2016, and with Holness, between 2016 and 2020.

However, Holness abandoned that position after his massive landslide win in the 2020 General Election when the Jamaica Labour Party claimed 49 seats to the 14 secured by the People’s National Party.

Among other things, Holness argued then that some of the committees were ineffective and had hardly met during the previous Parliament. He also suggested the he needed to put his large number of Members of Parliament (MPs) to work.

Paulwell was supported by the MP for St Catherine North Western Damion Crawford who argued that with ministers being on oversight committees, “It is that he or she who should be overseeing, is now offering oversight; the overseer is now overseeing themselves. And that not only is an affront to the process of democracy but the perception of the public that there is light being shone in the direction and areas, that they themselves are interested for the light to be shone.”

Crawford pointed out that almost all the committees named by Green have members of the Executive at the table.

“In some cases, not only are they present, but they are chairing these committees. Indeed, it shifts the process from an arena of oversight to a ring of self-defence,” charged Crawford.

But Government MP Pearnel Charles Jr noted that “past arrangements must be seen for what they were — political considerations, not any constitutional obligation. That must be very, very clear”.

He pointed out that the two most important Parliamentary committees — PAC and PAAC are still chaired by Opposition MPs.

A lawyer by training, Charles Jr, underscored that the Standing Orders state that members of various committees “may” select the chairmen, as opposed to “shall” select the chairmen.

He argued that the word “may” indicates that it is a discretion and not an obligation.

“What is being proposed by the Opposition is a matter of entitlement. Almost as if they believe there’s a parliamentary entitlement to chair; there’s none,” declared Charles Jr.

Fellow Government MP Marlene Malahoo Forte used the Standing Orders to defend the position put on the table from her benches.

She pointed out that Standing Order #86 provides for its suspension which was announcded by Green.

“Whenever the executive branch makes policy and account to the legislature, the rest of Government has to implement and execute those policies. And so it is not true to say that Members of Parliament on the Government side cannot properly perform the functions that are set out in the committees because they are on the Government side,” argued Malahoo Forte.

“It’s not true to say that in a wholesale way and without exception because Government is bigger than the political directorate,” she added.

In his contribution to the debate, Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the stance taken by the Government was about the separation of powers, accountability in governance, and about how Parliament should have appropriate checks and balances for executive excess.

According to Golding, because they are review and oversight committees, members of the executive should not be part of their make-up.

He insisted that the issue is about “executive influence undermining the efficacy and transparency of oversight functions of Parliament in our democracy”.

He argued that it was an abuse of the provision to suspend the Standing Orders to name the committee chairmen in the way Green did.

Green eventually suspended the debate until next Tuesday and promised to use the intervening time to try and come to some understanding with Paulwell, his Opposition counterpart.

But he also pointed to inconsistencies in the Opposition’s arguments, based on the fact that ministers of state have chaired committees in various Parliaments, including the last parliamentary session and the present Opposition MPs participated without complaint.

“I say that the Opposition must reflect as to whether we are going to truly work together in a spirit of cooperation,” Green said.

He also chastised the Opposition members for what he said was their selective reading of the Standing Orders.

Based on the announcement by Green, Opposition spokesman on finance Julian Robinson will again chair the PAC while Peter Bunting, the MP for Manchester Southern will chair the PAAC, taking over from Mikael Phillips.

Other committee chairs announced by Green are:

Internal and External Affairs — Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn

Economy and Production — Alando Terrelonge

Human Resources and Social Development — Dwayne Smith

Infrastructure and Physical Development — Heroy Clarke

Ethics — Marlene Malahoo Forte

Standing Committee — Juliet Holness

Regulations Committee — Franklin Witter

Privileges Committee — Juliet Holness

Special Select Committee for Constituency Development Fund — Juliet Holness

House Committee — Floyd Green

Standing Orders Committee — Juliet Holness

Private Bills Committee — Juliet Holness

Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives Floyd Green (right) in discussion with Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness during Tuesday’s sitting of the House. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell is seen in Parliament on Tuesday during debate on the motion moved by Leader of Government Business in the House Floyd Green, to name members to Parliament’s sessional committees.