Time cap for MPs to limit ‘unending’, ‘boring’ speeches

The Standing Orders of the House of Representatives has been amended to provide a fixed time for speeches in the State of the Constituency Debates.

Members of parliament (MPs) now have 25 minutes to make their presentations, with the provision of an additional five minutes upon request.

Prior to the amendment, Section 32C entitled each member to 15 minutes to make their presentation, and with the approval of the House, members were given as much time as they needed to conclude their presentations.

Last week, at least one presentation by an MP exceeded 45 minutes, tripling the time allowed in the Standing Orders.

St Andrew East Rural MP Juliet Holness, who brought the motion before Parliament Wednesday afternoon, said a meeting was held on October 11 to deliberate the proposal.

The extension was allowed on the grounds that it would facilitate increased discourse about constituency achievements and issues.

The findings and recommendations are contained in an interim report, and the committee is currently reviewing other sections of the Standing Orders.

Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell said a number of presentations in the debate have exceeded 30 minutes.

Paulwell added that the aim is to get Jamaicans interested in the business of Parliament and noted that their attention span is “not everlasting”.

“It is important that when we say it will be 30 minutes, that we try to encourage everybody to stick within that timeline so that we don’t get back into a spate of speeches that are unending and might be boring,” Paulwell said.