[www.inewsguyana.com] – The monies spent during sittings of Parliament cannot be measured against the work that the Parliament has done or how many Bills were passed.
This is according to Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, who at a news conference on Monday said that from last October to August 2013, Parliament has dealt with nineteen Acts, four Private Members Bills, five Bills awaiting assent and 56 motions and resolutions were passed.
“We have been active, but not as active as we may have wanted to be,” the Speaker said.
When questioned, he could not give a specified figure as to how much monies were spent during the last sessions of parliament. Instead, Trotman explained that the cost of hosting parliament is multi faceted.
“It involves bringing MPs in from all of the ten regions. Some have to come by aircraft, have to be housed.”
He added that during the budget debate, Parliamentarians from Regions 9, 7, 1 and 10 have to be accommodated in hotels. Recently, a local newspaper reported that a total of $105M were spent on 62 sittings of Parliament.
