Newly Appointed Speaker of the OECS Assembly


OECS Assembly Speaker Confident of Success




Speaker of the OECS Assembly Hon. Rene Baptiste








Antigua St. John's - Newly Appointed Speaker of the OECS Assembly Hon. Rene Baptiste has expressed confidence that the House inaugurated last Friday will successfully execute its mandate.
In an exclusive interview with Caribarena following the inauguration, the Speaker said the sitting on Friday was “partly procedural and partly to set the tone” to meet the obligations under the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and what is expected of the Assembly.

“I am really hoping that we will be able to achieve those noble goals which have been set out in the treaty,” she said.

The Assembly is expected to meet twice annually beginning from the date of inauguration. However, the next sitting according to the treaty is to take place in September.

“According to the rules there should be at least two meetings of the Assembly a year and since we have got the inauguration out now, its already calendar and done, we will then be sitting with the OECS commission to plan a calendar for the year,” she explained.

Procedural committees and other mandated bodies have yet to be put in place to ensure the Assembly functions according to plan, the speaker said.

In the meantime, Caribarena had questioned Hon. Rene Baptiste on her opinion of the noticeably large number of empty seats in the inaugural Assembly and whether she believed this to be a sign of how the House would look in sittings going forward.

The Speaker smiled and declined to comment directly. She did however say that such an observation would be better pointed to the politicians in the House, and not the person charged with its order.

“I am not the person to answer those questions. As Speaker I have absolutely no comment to make on those type of questions at all,” she asserted.

Read more: http://www.caribarena.com/antigua/news/regional/244-regional/101297-oecs-assembly-speaker-confident-of-success.html#ixzz23otVp6wb

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