APNU tables motion to remove House Speaker’s restrictions on media access to parliament

Last Updated on Saturday, 7 February 2026, 10:49 by Writer

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has introduced a motion to the National Assembly calling on Speaker of the House Manzoor Nadir to abolish his rules for media access to parliamentary sittings and ultimately hand responsibility to a committee to craft objective rules.

“Be it resolved that this National Assembly directs that full, reasonable, and non-discriminatory access be guaranteed to all duly accredited media houses and their representatives to observe, record, and report from sittings of the National Assembly, subject only to rules that are clearly articulated, uniformly applied, and strictly necessary to maintain order, safety, and the dignity of the House,” states the motion.

The motion, sponsored by lawmakers Sherod Duncan and Saiku Andrews, came at the height of Mr Nadir relying on a now expired agreement specifically for the 2020 COVID-19 period to restrict the number of reporters to seven and block all video cameras except those by the government’s Department of Public Information (DPI).

Prior to that agreement, for decades Parliament office did not impose any cap on reporters or television news camerapersons. While the Speaker has cited space constraints, the Chamber is often occupied by numerous government officials and persons who the ministers invite to witness them debating the budget. Journalists from independent and media houses sympathetic to the government have condemned the Speaker’s actions.

The two APNU MPs are seeking support from across the political divide to “rescind forthwith any administrative arrangements, practices, or directives that impose caps on the number of accredited media representatives permitted in the Chamber, except where objectively required by demonstrable space or security constraints, (and) prohibit or unreasonably restrict independent audiovisual coverage by accredited media houses in circumstances where such coverage can be safely and orderly accommodated.”

Messrs Duncan and Andrews’ motion, if approved by a simple majority of the rarely unified 65-seat National Assembly, could see the Parliament Office administration being mandated to provide a reliable, high-quality, uninterrupted, and publicly accessible live audiovisual broadcast of all sittings of the National Assembly and publish clear, written, and publicly available protocols governing media accreditation, seating, camera placement, movement, and conduct within parliamentary premises, so as to eliminate uncertainty, discretion, and speculation.

APNU wants the matter referred to the Standing Orders Committee, or such other appropriate body, with a mandate to propose within a specified timeframe formal rules and practical arrangements governing media access that balance transparency, security, and orderly conduct, and to report back to the National Assembly for approval.

Calling for the House’s proceedings to be conducted in a manner that guarantees openness, transparency, accountability, and public confidence, they said recent administrative arrangements due to the COVID 19 pandemic have limited the number of accredited journalists permitted in the Chamber and restricted or prohibited independent audiovisual coverage by accredited media houses within the Chamber, compelling reliance on a single, state-controlled feed.

Given that uncertainty, inconsistency, and opaque restrictions on media access undermine public trust, invite speculation, and erode confidence in the independence and integrity of parliamentary proceedings, the motion also proposes that the House affirms that open parliamentary proceedings and unfettered access for duly accredited media houses are fundamental to democratic accountability and public oversight.

In Trinidad and Tobago, reporters and television news cameramen enjoy unrestricted and uncapped access to the Parliament chamber there as had been the case in Guyana pre-COVID-19.