Dominica’s Opposition Leader Honorable Lennox Linton has condemned the exclusion of the Opposition’s questions from the Order Paper for the first sitting of Parliament after the last General Elections and intends to move a motion for the amendment of the Order Paper to include questions and motions already submitted by the Opposition.
Linton said this decision, communicated to the Opposition via a letter from the Clerk of the House of Assembly, clearly violates the legitimate right of Opposition members to ask questions pertinent to the business of the people they were elected to represent.
He pointed out that the Opposition has a duty to do the work of their constituents, which includes asking questions about matters of grave concern to them such as the alleged “racketeering” of visas and work permits in the Ministry of Immigration and Labour.
Linton emphasised that the Opposition members have a right and an obligation to ask questions about such matters, noting that Government has remained mum on the racketeering allegations.
Other questions the Opposition wants to ask, he said, are related to Government’s role in Bit Coin; Dominica’s debt to PetroCaribe; the impact of Black Sigatoa; Tourism; and the status of a grant for senior citizens in the 2014/2015 Budget.
“We were stopped dead in our tracks by the Clerk of the House,” Linton said, despite the fact that the Opposition submitted their questions and motions since February 4, even before getting official notification of the meeting of the House.
Having notified the Opposition that Parliament would meet on February 20, the Clerk subsequently wrote informing them that due to “established customs and practices” their questions and private member motions shall not be included on Order Paper.
Linton said the letter written by the Clerk explained that, under the current convention of the House, items such as the questions the Opposition wants to ask under Private Members’ Business are not taken at the first meeting of the Parliament after elections.
The Opposition leader replied on February 10 stating that this established custom and practice of House is no more than a convenience appropriated by Government’s side and cannot supersede the Standing Orders of the House.
In his response, Linton reminded the Clerk that the established “customs and practice for first meetings of Parliament” have unfairly used Standing Order 16 Q –Public Business– selectively to facilitate Government business only, when that same Standing Order clearly provides for Private Members’ Business as well.
He also wrote that this discriminatory practice had, over the years, resulted in Government’s side being allowed to pick and choose items that suit their agenda for that first meeting while excluding the few items that the Opposition wants to present for consideration of the House.
Linton contended that if Government can present bills, papers and make statements at first meeting for new Parliamentary terms, it is only fair and just that when the Opposition has questions and motions, these should be taken in the public interest of proper Parliamentary conduct and procedure.
Therefore, Linton requested that the Opposition’s questions and motions should be duly included in the Order Paper for the upcoming meeting of Parliament under the section that provides for Private Members’ Business.
However, the Order Paper for the February 20 meeting of Parliament did not include the Opposition’s questions and motions submitted on February 4, prompting Linton to write again to the Clerk, expressing concern that their request has been ignored.
The Opposition Leader stated that Government has been working for over two months, during which time many matters have surfaced which require Parliamentary action and require Parliamentarians to speak.
He added that it is Parliamentarians’ duty to apprise Parliament of these matters and ensure that the highest decision-making body in the land is dealing with and paying attention to these matters.
Therefore, a situation in which everything government wants to do is provided for and everything else is shut out is unacceptable, he indicated.