The Speaker of the house acknowledged receipt of the Leader of the opposition's letter to protest the sitting of the house. This morning she read out her written response into the house record:
Valerie Woods, Speaker of the House
"And it reads Dear Honorable Moses Barrow, Leader of the Opposition, I acknowledge receipt of your letter of protest on the notice period for the House meeting called for tomorrow, Friday, June 28, 2024."
"The Clerk of the National Assembly was notified on Sunday, June 23 by the Cabinet Secretary on behalf of the Executive for June 28 to be set aside for a House meeting. This was brought to my attention and the notice went out on Monday, June 24 when the orders of the day were verified."
"I do appreciate the concern on notice, however the notice for this meeting is not in contravention of the standing orders. As you have indicated indeed since being in the office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, I have worked with the Clerk's office and that of the Cabinet Secretary to the Executive to improve on notification."
"While there is no notice period specified in the standing orders for notification of regular House meetings, the office has improved on the practice of at least one week before the date of the meeting."
"This has been done in an effort to allow standing order 19-3 on notice of to be applied as often as possible."
