THE SINCERITY of our Parliamentarians in their treatment of the nation's business should again come in for scrutiny over the next few weeks, at least until after the June 16 by-election in north east St Catherine.

Last week, following the walkout by the People's National Party (PNP), Prime Minister Bruce Golding, while not being the one who sets the business of the House, intimated that the most likely start of the Sectoral Debate would be June 2.

The Prime Minister said the Sectoral Debate could not have started last week because it would not have been sensible to have it disrupted by a break, bearing in mind that the House will not be sitting tomorrow.

However, at the time of Golding's intervention, Gregory Mair was still a member of parliament. That changed last Thursday when he admitted in court that he was in breach of the Constitution when he was elected and was not qualified to sit in the House of Representatives.

The seat was declared vacant and the prime minister has announced a by-election for June 16. Not long ago, in March, when the court ordered a by-election in West Portland, the Parliament was abandoned by most MPs who decided that winning a seat was more important than trying to figure out how the country deals with its pressing problems.

While The Gavel has always believed that the Sectoral Debate is hardly more than a stage for MPs to stand and say how-de-do and make an attempt at eloquent grandstanding, we believe that it must not be allowed to play second fiddle to getting either Mair or the PNP's Granville Valentine elected.

The fact that this year is expected to be extraordinarily challenging is adequate reason to not only ensure the debate take place urgently and uninterrupted, but also for the presentations, especially from the ministers, to be more focused.

The Sectoral Debate is supposed to be a signpost for government policies in all ministries.

Aside from the fear that leaders on both sides of the political divide might keep the debate hanging in order to win North East St Catherine, The Gavel has an uncomfortable feeling about the readiness of government members for these presentations.

Energy and Mining Minister James Robertson should have opened the debate on May 19.

Despite the national budget being crafted around the proposed policies of all the ministries and government departments, Robertson was not ready. He was taken out of the opening slot and Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett inserted. But he too was not ready, leaving one to wonder whether the Budget was crafted with a particular objective in mind and to what extent the minister are benefiting from the best technical advice in preparing for occasions such as the Sectoral Debate.

The Gavel hopes that last week's walkout by the Opposition party would serve as an opportunity for the Government to seriously analyse the near ad hoc way in which the nation's business has been done. This analysis should involve the integration between the ministries and the assumptions in the Budget as well as a total overhaul of the parliamentary agenda which has been obscure.

Communications fine tuning

The Gavel also recommends to the PNP that it spend some time doing some introspection and fine tuning its own internal communications. Even though The Gavel believes there are merits to the walkout last Tuesday, we are baffled by subsequent revelations that Natalie Neita-Headley, the deputy leader of opposition business, was in discussion with deputy house leader Andrew Gallimore for the debate to begin after Labour Day.

Despite the near agreement between Neita-Headley and the government side, Leader of Opposition Business Derrick Kellier claimed he was not aware of the discussions and it seemed most of his colleagues were also in the dark. It is clear, however, that the walk-out was irresistible and the Opposition could not shy away from the opportunity to score much-needed political points.

Meanwhile, it is interesting that Golding elevated the need for Parliament to urgently guarantee a loan as the main reason the Sectoral Debate did not begin as scheduled last week. Such an excuse holds no water. The Gavel finds it totally unacceptable that the proposed loan guarantee, which Cabinet approved in November, was rushed to the House at the 11th hour. This speaks to poor planning and we hope this willy-nilly approach to the nation's business ends forthwith.

thegavel@gleanerjm.com