JAN 10

The first sitting of the newlook Grenada parliament could see the government and opposition sides battling with each other at the very start of the proceedings.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that the two sides have failed to agree on a common Speaker of the House of Representatives for Friday's opening of a new session of parliament.

The government is proposing former Labour Minister, Lawrence Joseph to get the nod as House speaker while the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had written to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell with an alternative in outgoing speaker George Mc Guire.

Prime Minister Mitchell has reportedly responded to the request made by Opposition Leader, Tillman Thomas pointing out that Mc Guire was not being considered since he had indicated a few months ago that he would only serve until the end of the life of the last parliament.

Mc Guire has seemingly had a change of heart by indicating publicly that he would not mind continuing in the post if he had the full backing and support of both government and opposition sides in parliament.

The Leader of Government Business in parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Gregory Bowen has approached NDC's parliamentarian Nazim Burke to seek the opposition support in voting for Joseph, a former Chairman of the NNP, to become the new speaker.

According to the source, dismissed the suggestion on the grounds that Joseph should not be considered given his role in the last parliament when he served as a senior government minister.

The NDC is said to be looking at alternative names in case Mc Guire decides not to allow his name to go forward on Friday when nomination takes place in parliament for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Under the Standing order of the house, the voting will have to be done by secret ballot. The NDC is bent on putting forward a suitable name for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives and to allow the government to vote against it.

The Mitchell government has a close 8-7 majority in parliament over the opposition.