TIGHT SQUEEZE - Physical-distancing concerns emerge over cramped parliamentary chamber in aftermath of landslide election victory

A new parliament will soon be called back to work and newly elected and appointed legislators will have to attend on the cramped quarters of Gordon House at Duke Street in Kingston in the throes of a pandemic which requires physical distancing if an alternative isn’t found.

The Jamaica Conference Centre is emerging as a potential temporary location that could facilitate the required physical distancing which experts say is key to combating the spread of the coronavirus.

Administrators of parliamentary affairs and the Andrew Holness-led Government have been weighing options that would ensure the maintenance of COVID-19 protocols among legislators while doing the nation’s business.

“We are exploring various options, but I can’t comment on them at this time,” Tashana Sewell Alcock, public relations officer to the Houses of Parliament, in a response last Thursday, told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

The issue becomes more pressing for the House of Representatives (Lower House), in particular, where at least 48 people are to be sworn in as members of parliament (MPs) on the government benches, an increase of 14 from the last Parliament.

That means in the already tightly packed chamber, more seats will have to be added to the side right of the Speaker’s platform.

The Opposition will have just 15 of the 63 seats in the Lower House, and can easily maintain the required distancing.

It is less of a challenge for the Senate (Upper House), which only comprises 21 members – 13 from the Government and eight for the Opposition.

The Senate had amended its rules to allow for virtual meetings of its committees, but sought advice from government lawyers on the constitutionality of regular meetings being held online.

In the early days of the pandemic, which saw a roll-out of various restrictions, elderly parliamentarians were exempted from work-from-home orders. Public visits to the House were also suspended, along with a trimmed facilitation of media.

At the time, the Opposition had 29 members to the Government’s 34 in the Lower House.

Some House committee meetings, including the COVID-19 oversight body, held meetings online, but issues of constitutionality frustrated a full move to virtual meetings.

During physical sittings, some lawmakers struggled to maintain the recommended six feet apart to curtail spread of the coronavirus, routinely huddling or even ignoring protocols for the wearing of masks right up to the dissolution of Parliament on August 13 to make way for the September 3 general election.

In April, Everald Warmington, a government legislator and stickler for parliamentary rules, objected to committees meeting virtually without a change to the Standing Orders, the rules that govern the Houses.

In May, the Standing Orders Committee of the House of Representatives accepted several recommendations to allow hybrid meetings but requiring key persons such as the Speaker, committee chairs and key presenters to be physically present in the chamber.

The committee also agreed to adopt the ‘Caymanian model’ to allow for electronic meetings of the House where physical gatherings are “impractical”.

The suggestions were not approved by the full House before dissolution.

Karl Samuda, the leader of government business in the last Parliament, said the experience was “challenging”.

“We re-engineered it (chamber) so that members who could not maintain social distancing in the regular seating arrangement sat at the back,” he said, explaining that he, too, could not speak on the new arrangements as a new House leader is yet to be named.

“It was challenging but tolerable. Of course, naturally, it would be more challenging now, with 48 or 49 or even 50 on one side. It just wasn’t designed for social distancing in that way.”

Holness did not name a new House leader or Speaker in his announcement of the new executive on Friday.

“We are going to be challenged to practise social distancing and it is something that is of concern. I don’t think it is so much on the Opposition side ... , but certainly on the Government side,” said Dr Morais Guy, a returning opposition legislator.

“It may very well be we have to resort to a situation where we have some members attending and others join by Zoom,” he said, referencing an online videoconferencing platform.

Finding an alternative, new parliamentary building needed

The Houses of Parliament have met outside of the designated Duke Street location before, and this “obviously must be a consideration”, a senior official from Holness’ inner circle said.

In 2011, meetings were held at the downtown Kingston-based Jamaica Conference Centre to facilitate roof work and removal of asbestos.

The centre has five conference rooms and three caucus rooms. The largest room can accommodate up to 1,200 persons and has more modern, spacious galleries for the public and press.

Guy said a move to the centre would be appropriate.

“It is something I could support as the rooms would provide sufficient space for physical distancing,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Samuda, meanwhile, said the “legitimate questions” about spacing and availability of appropriate facilities highlight why a new parliament building, replacing the current one on Duke Street, is urgently needed.

In January, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) announced that architectural drawings for the new Parliament building to be built at the National Heores Park were due to be completed in June with construction to start in the first quarter of 2021.

Those drawings have been completed and the “planning phase … is on track and progressing as scheduled” the corporation said in a statement yesterday, responding to Sunday Gleaner queries.

“The team is cognizant of the effects of the pandemic on the national expenditure and will share formal updates on this project further to the guidance of the Government,” the UDC said, adding that it was working with the designers to get approval to start construction.

Jamaican legislators are not facing a unique crisis as other governments have had to modify traditional meeting forms to adhere to coronavirus protocols.

In April, the Trinidad and Tobago parliament suspended public visits and seated some legislators in meeting rooms of the Red House to enforce social distancing.

In the United Kingdom, parliamentarians had temporary arrangements which facilitated hybrid proceedings of the 650-member House of Commons.

But most MPs have resumed attending meetings physically, a notice on the UK parliament’s website said, except where they have been self-certified as unable to attend Westminster for medical or public health reasons related to the pandemic.

No more than 50 MPs are permitted in the House at any one time, the use of calls lists from which MPs will be invited to speak in each item of parliamentary business, and new ways of voting, including an extension of the current proxy voting scheme, are among the changes at Westminster.

Remote voting was allowed, but ended in June when most MPs started to physically return to the chamber.

A date for the convening of the new Jamaican Parliament is dependent on the gazetting of the elected candidates by the Electoral Office of Jamaica.

That is expected to be done this week.

editorial@gleanerjm.com