Parliamentary manoeuvres

The Parliamentary manoeuvres to delay the swearing in of Abe Dabdoub as the new Member for North East St. Catherine have set back completion of the Sectoral Debate.

This annual exercise, which follows the Budget Debate, involves Ministers of Government, other than those who spoke on the Budget, to give an accounting of their portfolio responsibilities; and it allows Government and Opposition back-benchers the chance to make an input into matters of national and constituency concerns.

The debate usually starts shortly after the Budget exercise and is completed by the time Parliament takes its summer break at the end of the July. But, this year's timetable has gone awry.

Only the first of four segments - Economy and Production, Infrastructure and Physical Development, Human Resources and Social Development, and Internal and External Affairs - have been completed after more than six weeks. The second segment, which started on June 19, should have ended last Wednesday, but the spurious cancellation of that sitting meant that the debate skipped the whole week.

It is now understood that the third segment will not start before September, when the House resumes after the summer break. No date is yet set for the final segment which will likely run into late October.

Among the Ministers who will speak in the final two segments are those responsible for National Security and Justice, Health, Labour and Social Security, Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs and Local Government and Community Development - all important portfolios from which the nation awaits reports on their performance and projections.

It is not surprising that pre-election considerations should influence the behaviour of Parliament. But there has been an assurance from the Prime Minister himself that there will be no elections for the rest of the calendar year.

This belated assurance did not come on the heels of the "Solid Achievement" unveiling in early May. In fact it seems to have been strategically timed after the Opposition JLP announced the start of their election campaign in early June.

Politics is said to be the art of the possible. The ingredients are manifold, with timing and momentum as vital components. In that mix, court rulings and Parliamentary calendars give way to the power seekers.

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