Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

Dr. Fenton Ferguson - File

Dr. Fenton Ferguson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Eastern St. Thomas, wants the committee reviewing the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives to find a way to bring discipline to the House.

"I believe that we need to bring some good order to the House," Dr. Ferguson said.

"The speaker will always have the latitude but I maintain that we need to look at what may be regarded as best practices as we review the standing orders and, where possible, look at those sections in a real way, do a review where at the end of it we can feel comforted that, over the next couple of years, you are working with something that will bring some order to the Parliament," Mr. Ferguson told committee members.

National criticism

He added: "We have been criticised nationally and otherwise about the kind of disorder in the House and, many times too, it is because of how we have been lapsing in just allowing the thing to run."

Meanwhile, Parliament is moving toward limiting the time members can speak in the House of Representatives.

Its Standing Orders committee yesterday agreed that statements by ministers should be limited to 10 minutes and that an extension of this time should be subject to the speaker's discretion.

Rubber stamp

The committee also rubber-stamped the practice of designating time for spokespersons to respond to ministers' statements. However, it also capped the speaking time at five minutes.

The move to allow Opposition members to respond to ministers' statements began last September when Bruce Golding assumed the job of Prime Minister.

Another change that has taken place under Prime Minister Golding in the manner in which Parliament operates is the institution of the Prime Minister's Question Time. It will see the Prime Minister entertaining questions from the House. This move, which has also been approved, will take place on the second Tuesday of every month.

The Prime Minister will also now be required to respond to questions on urgent national matters within seven days.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com