Parliamentary Committees reconstituted as MPs elected across key oversight bodies

Chairpersons for several parliamentary committees were elected on Monday following the reconstitution of a number of committees during a series of meetings convened by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, in the Parliamentary Chambers.

Conducted in accordance with the Standing Orders and established parliamentary practice, the process saw Members of Parliament (MPs) select leaders for key oversight and sectoral committees that play an important role in Guyana’s parliamentary system.

Among those elected were PM Mark Phillips as Chairman of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Security and Opposition MP Vishnu Panday as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the body responsible for scrutinising Government expenditure and examining reports from the Auditor General.

Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affair Minister, Anil Nandlall, was elected Chairman of the Constitutional Reform Committee, while Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira will serve as Chairperson of the Committee on Appointments.

Human Services and Social Security Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud was elected Chairperson of the Sectoral Committee on Social Services, Opposition MP Duarte Hetsberger was elected Chairman of the Sectoral Committee on Economic Services, and Opposition MP Odessa Primus was selected to chair the Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations. Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat was also elected Chairman of the Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources.

The reconstitution of the committees paves the way for parliamentary sectoral committee work to resume, with meetings expected to commence in the coming weeks.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meetings, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, welcomed the smooth conduct of the process and underscored the importance of the parliamentary committee system.

“A series of meetings were convened today at the Parliament chambers by the Speaker of the National Assembly, comprising a series of parliamentary committees, all of whom have extremely important mandates. First of all, I’m pleased to say that the meetings went very smoothly. We saw a very efficient conduct of these meetings. Nominations were made. Most of these were not contested, and chairpersons were elected to serve the respective committees,” he said. Singh noted that the committees are a critical component of the country’s parliamentary framework, with mandates defined by both the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly. “The second point that I want to make is that these committees have an extremely important role to play. Each one of them has an extremely important mandate that is defined in some cases in the constitution of Guyana, in some cases in the standing orders of our parliament,” Singh noted.

He explained that Guyana’s committee structure has evolved over time, particularly following constitutional reforms undertaken around 2001. “There were significant revisions to the mandate of the public accounts committee and the constitutional amendments that emerged out of the last constitutional reform process around 2001 or thereabouts. Similarly, that constitutional reform process is the process that gave rise to the establishment in the constitution of the sectoral committees like the natural resources and economic services and foreign relations.”

According to Singh, those committees have become an indispensable part of the parliamentary system.

“And those committees have proven to be extremely useful and extremely effective over the years. They bring together Government and opposition MPs in considering the various matters, subject matters within their respective mandates,” Dr Singh noted. He added that the committees continue to function even when the National Assembly is not in session and provide opportunities for detailed examination of issues affecting the country. “We anticipate going forward that these newly constituted committees will discharge their very important responsibilities assigned to them under the constitution and under the standing orders and in doing so contribute very significantly to the functioning of the larger parliamentary architecture, which of course is such an indispensable part of our democratic institutions,” he said.

The newly elected chairpersons are expected to convene meetings of their respective committees in the coming weeks.