Constitution empowers Secretaries to be in National Assembly – AG

APNU/AFC attempts to oust Parliamentary Secretaries

Challenges to the appointment of two Parliamentary Secretaries because they were on a political party’s list are misconceived and should be dismissed with costs. This is according to Attorney General and Senior Counsel Anil Nandlall in his legal submissions.

The two Parliamentary Secretaries, Vickash Ramkissoon and Sarah Brown, were appointed back in September to assist various Ministers. But the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) through applicant Christopher Jones, contends that they were candidates on the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) list and thus, cannot serve as Parliamentary Secretaries.
In his response to Jones’ submissions, however, Nandlall pointed to Article 186 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana, which says that “Parliamentary Secretaries may be appointed from among persons who are elected members of the National Assembly or are qualified to be elected as such members.”
Since Brown and Ramkissoon, who are respectively the third and fourth named respondents, were on the list and eligible to be extracted as Members of Parliament, Nandlall noted that their appointments are in line with Article 186 (1).
“It is respectfully submitted that the third and fourth named respondents were already elected members of the National Assembly at the time of their appointment as Parliamentary Secretaries. It was not the fact of their appointment which made them elected members of the National Assembly,” Nandlall said in his submissions.

The AG emphasised that when the two Parliamentary Secretaries were appointed, it was not to hold a seat in the National Assembly but merely to assist their subject Ministers, as is provided for in Article 113 of the Constitution of Guyana.
Article 113 says “(1) The President may appoint Parliamentary Secretaries to assist himself or Ministers in the discharge of their functions” and “(2) Qualifications for appointment to the office of Parliamentary Secretary and other matters connected therewith are regulated by Article 186.”
“The applicant submits that there is no submission in the Constitution which permits a person who is an elected Member of the National Assembly to hold a seat in the National Assembly by virtue of the appointment as a Parliamentary Secretary,” Nandlall said in his submission.
“However, in the present circumstances, we are not dealing with the holding of seats in the National Assembly but membership of the National Assembly. The two are certainly not one and the same,” Nandlall submitted.
The appointment of the Parliamentary Secretaries was made on September 15, which was day two of the budget debates. Brown, who was the Region One Vice Chairman, was appointed to assist Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai while Ramkissoon was appointed to assist Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, in discharging his duties.

At the time, this publication had interviewed Government Chief Whip and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira, who had explained what the appointments mean and the fact that they are not a breach of the Constitution but rather, provided for in the constitutional reform process.
Joseph Hamilton, who is the current Labour Minister, is a former Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health. Sukhai, on the other hand, previously served as a Parliamentary Secretary in the very Ministry she now heads.
“After the constitutional reforms we went through in 2009, it provides for four technocrat Ministers and two Parliamentary Secretaries. The Parliamentary Secretaries can be appointed from MPs who are elected or persons who are eligible to be MPs. So, you can have an MP who is a Parliamentary Secretary and one who is not.”
“The ones that are not elected MPs, they are allowed to sit in Parliament, speak but not vote. So, in the past (Minister Sukhai) was an MP and a Parliamentary Secretary and (now Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton) was an MP and a Parliamentary Secretary,” Minister Teixeira had explained.
Jones’ court action, which was filed in December last, comes on the heels of a previous court case the Opposition filed, challenging the appointment of current Minister of Tourism, Industry and Trade Oneidge Walrond. (G3)