Grenada’s parliament all set to go paperless

Members in the House of Representatives passed a similar purpose as part of measures under its energy strategy, to change the Houses of Parliament into a paperless authoritative body.

Tuesday, 2nd February 2021

Members in the House of Representatives passed a similar purpose as part of measures under its energy strategy, to change the Houses of Parliament into a paperless authoritative body. “These measures are meant to decrease the money that we use, to reduce the cost associated in producing these tons of papers and so on; to conserve on the power that goes into producing all of these reports,” President Chester Humphrey said while informing constituents about the amendment, which was allowed to at a January 25, 2021 meeting of the Standing Orders Committee. “As we know, paper comes from trees, and we know the important effects; it’s a time meant to conserve nature and is in keeping it with the rest of the world today,” he added. The Standing Orders Committee comprises Senators Norland Cox and Tessa St Cyr and is chaired by President Humphrey. He informed members that the bill to the Standing Orders would be a clear directive to the Clerk of Parliament, Cox, who presented the bill in the form of a resolution, said that the bill provides for the Senate to be able to make use of electronic means for the transmission of documents and also for electronic sittings. “While the Standing Orders is slightly silent on this practice, we thought it necessary to have something final in the Standing Orders to guide the steps as we try to improve our efficiency,” said Cox. The various offices of the Houses of Parliament are also expected to save thousands of dollars by sending documents via electronic format. The only paper documents to be done to senators will be annual reports of boards and or statutory bodies.