APNU MP Sherod Duncan has called for an explanation from Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir over the withdrawal of published questions on labour shortages, migrant workers and electronic identification requirements for employment.
Duncan said the media references cited as grounds for disallowing the questions had been disclosed during revisions and retained through parliamentary review.
Duncan said Notice Papers Nos. 33–35 and 38–44 were published on January 13, 2026 and circulated to MPs by the Clerk’s Office on January 21. He said correspondence dated November 5 and sent to him on November 6 advised that the Speaker had reconsidered the questions and disallowed them under Standing Order 20(1)(k) because they were based on statements made in the media.
Among the withdrawn questions was one asking whether the government had finalised a policy requiring migrants to obtain an electronic identity card before taking up employment. Others asked which categories of labour had recorded shortages over the previous three years and whether a labour-market assessment had been updated to reflect migrant workers’ participation.
In a follow-up statement, Duncan said his original submission of November 13, 2025 referred to public statements and government announcements without naming media outlets in the relevant preambles. On November 18, the Clerk’s Office asked him to resubmit the questions with “the specific information and not a listing of what was sent.” Duncan said he understood that request to mean he should identify the sources of the statements and added the media references when he resubmitted the questions that day.
He said the office raised objections on November 25 to references to the Auditor General’s report and sought his agreement to remove them. The following day, the office returned revised questions that still included the names of media outlets, publication dates and article references, and advised that the questions would be forwarded to the Speaker, Duncan said.
“The very reliance on media statements that was expressly disclosed throughout the revision, review and publication process is now the stated reason for their removal,” he said.
Duncan asked why the references had been retained through publication and circulation, and why any objection to the wording could not have been addressed by amending the questions. He said announcements on labour shortages and the recruitment of foreign workers had practical implications for workers, employers and communities, and that ministers should be prepared to explain what policies had been approved, what evidence supported them and how they would be implemented.
He argued that the long intervals between sittings made it especially important for the Assembly to allow scrutiny when it met. He called for an opportunity to revise the wording and put the substantive questions to ministers.
“Disallowing a question does not answer it,” Duncan said.
Discussion