… “our aims are being accomplished through the Parliament” – APNU’s chief whip

BY MICHAEL YOUNGE

The government and opposition parliamentary parties are squaring-off again about whether the “new dispensation” that exists in the National Assembly is functioning and resulting in significant benefits for all Guyanese following the November 28 elections.
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall speaking with Guyana Times during an interview on Wednesday evening was severely critical of this “‘new dispensation” in the 10th Parliament, which he said “was failing miserably in addressing the people’s business”.

<dl class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_5831" style="width: 160px;"><dt class="wp-caption-dt"></dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Opposition Chief Whip Amna Ally</dd></dl><dl class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_5830" style="width: 230px;"><dt class="wp-caption-dt"></dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall</dd></dl>

Nandlall said that the opposition political parties have hijacked the Parliament from its commencement, thereby undermining any fundamental progress that could be made through that channel which would lead to significant benefits and policy changes for the Guyanese people.
He cautioned the joint opposition political parties that the Guyanese public was growing intolerant and wary of the political gymnastics of a seemingly “confused, power drunk and uncompromising” parliamentary opposition.
“From the beginning of the 10th Parliament to now… we have witnessed a series of events which leads to the ineluctable and demonstrable conclusion that the joint opposition majority do not understand their constitutional roles and functions,” he opined.

Violations
He said that the ruling party has witnessed a violation of all parliamentary norms, traditions, practices and a continuous infraction of the Constitution being rolled out by the APNU/AFC MPs in Parliament.
The AG argued that these violations began with the election of Speaker, the lack of parity in the composition of the committees, the opposition taking the chairmanship of all of the committees, the unlawful attempt to cut budgetary allocations, and their use of parliamentary motions and resolutions to direct executive policy.
He identified other moves such as the opposition’s attempt to foist upon the president, bills for his assent though these bills may be unconstitutional and inconsistent with extant executive policies, their attempt to force the president to dismiss a minister of government and their attempts to gag him from speaking as serious causes for concern.
“All of these events unfolded as a result of a lack of understanding and appreciation of the role of an opposition in our constitutional matrix.”
The executive has clearly defined roles and functions to perform as does the legislature. The legislature is divided between the government (executive) functions and the opposition’s functions. The executive’s function is to craft policies and bring them to the House for debate, and the executive is exclusively responsible for all financial matters in relation to the state.

Opposition’s role
The opposition, in the House, similarly, has a clearly defined role. Their role is twofold: a financial function and an oversight function. In the discharge of their financial function, they are to scrutinise the financial function of the government with a view to ensure that there is accountability and transparency and the best possible use of public funds. They do so largely in the committee of supply and through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
In their oversight function, the opposition is expected to scrutinise the functions and functioning of the executive to ensure that there is no abuse of power or violation of the law. They do this in the National Assembly through the committee system.
“These functions, which I have adumbrated about, do not change because the government may be in a minority and the opposition may be in the majority. They remain intact irrespective,” the attorney general advised, arguing, that “because of the lack of appreciation of the roles and functions of the opposition by the opposition itself, it has created in the minds of the Guyanese people an expectation of deliverables which they simply cannot deliver.”
He alleged that this is what “has led to the widespread feeling out there that the majority, which the opposition enjoys, has yielded nothing. It will continue to yield nothing once they continue along a path of futility of trying to do that which they have no power to do”.
“If they continue to be unrelenting in this pursuit, we will continue to have a sterile parliamentary process and the people’s expectations will continue to be dashed. But hopefully, the majority of the Guyanese people will quickly realise that they are being mislead and taken for a ride by the opposition to an unknown parliamentary destination.”
“In the meanwhile, we continue to waste valuable time and we continue to waste $1.7  million per sitting as the opposition persists with their infantile agenda,” he related.
Different view
Nandlall’s comments did not go down well with opposition chief whip and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) parliamentarian Amna Ally, who hailed the 10th Parliament as “a shining light of hope”.
Ally said that her party is satisfied with its performance through the Parliament, explaining, that it has managed to accomplish not only its goals and objectives, but “its agenda”.
“I think that the 10th Parliament has given birth to mixed reactions … the opposition has achieved quite a lot, I would say… but we recognise that the government cannot come to grips with the new dispensation of that Parliament,” she said.
Ally, who is also the shadow education minister in Parliament, suggested that it is the administration that does not understand its role and how to govern with less parliamentary power.
“We have never had a minority Parliament and that is why you hear talks about not assenting to any legislation… they are not accepting anything that the opposition is putting forward. We believe in good governance and we want to see Guyana forward, but we will remain resolute in our aim to create what we deem meaningful change through the Parliament,” the long-standing MP said.
Asked whether she was concerned that Guyanese and APNU’s supporters are being turned-off by the continuous conflicts and bickering in Parliament, Ally said, “They are intelligent people who are able to assess what is happening.”
A senior AFC official, who spoke under anonymity, said that the party also shared the sentiments expressed by the APNU, but also admitted that the party has not managed to achieve much of its manifesto promises.
He was quick to point out that the party was facing all sorts of internal problems as a result of its posture in the assembly, which resulted in a major fall out over who should lead the AFC forward.
Asked whether the party has been made into a “toothless poodle” responding to the needs of the APNU, the official remarked “not at all”, but signalled that there is a clandestine agreement between the two parties to support each other in general.
He said this in itself was also creating problems as the various internal factions, either support the PNC turn APNU, or are still suspicious of its actions.