Opposition to demand answers from PM in House
Published:Saturday | October 8, 2022 | 12:08 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Parliamentary Reporter
Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell has given notice that the parliamentary Opposition intends to invoke Standing Order 17B, more commonly referred to as Prime Minister’s (PM) Question Time, on Tuesday, when the head of Government is expected to respond to oral questions on matters of national importance.
At the same time, Deputy Leader of Government Business Olivia Grange has moved a motion for the Standing Orders Committee to conduct a comprehensive review of Standing Orders 14 to 19, which relate to questions.
The Standing Orders state that at the second sitting of the House of Representatives each month, there shall be a Question Time, during which responses by the prime minister to questions asked of him in relation to matters of national importance and national interest shall take precedence.
Questions to be answered by the prime minister require at least seven days’ notice as provided by the Standing Orders.
Still, Bruce Golding, former prime minister, fielded a raft of questions without notice during his tenure.
In his contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate on October 5, Paulwell noted that although any member of parliament can ask questions, the opportunity to make queries is an effective tool that the parliamentary Opposition uses to ensure government accountability.
“I know that we are about to review the Standing Orders, but we are going to be resolute that the existing rules remain sacrosanct and nothing should be done to impair the vibrancy and the authenticity of our democracy,” Paulwell said.
He cautioned against the recent move by Prime Minister Andrew Holness to delegate responses to questions to another minister as was the case during a sitting in September, when questions in relation to the funding of the candidacy of Kamina Johnson Smith for the Commonwealth secretary-general post were addressed by de facto Information Minister Robert Morgan.
Paulwell told his fellow legislators that the questions to be posed by the Opposition “will relate to important national issues asked orally and are only subject to the Speaker’s ruling on the matter of urgency”.
When the People’s National Party formed the Government in 2012, the approach taken by former Prime Minister Golding to respond to oral questions on the floor of Parliament without notice came to a screeching halt.
The Portia Simpson Miller administration made it clear then that it intended to stick to the letter of the law and would not answer oral questions without the stipulated seven-day notice.
Responding to his then Opposition counterpart, Delroy Chuck, in February 2012, Paulwell said: “We will maintain that the proper notice be given for the prime minister or any other minister, not earlier than seven clear days, as is in the Standing Orders.”
When Chuck asked if the practice was not being maintained, Paulwell said: “For the time being, we are going to maintain the rules of the Standing Orders and, therefore, we would require notice to be given.”