11th Parliament opens today without Opposition presence

By Jarryl Bryan, June 10, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News , Source

Guyana’s 11th Parliament will open today at 14:00hrs, with the people’s representatives being sworn in, but this time the entire dynamic of the parliamentary system has shifted, for the august body will be opened by a Head of State, from a grouping of parties that have spent close to 23 years on the opposition benches.

Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Issacs

 

There will be several new faces, but there will also be a conspicuous absence of parliamentary representatives from Guyana’s oldest existing political party, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), which has taken a stance of non-cooperation against the David Granger-led administration, because of alleged discrepancies in the recently concluded general and regional elections.

As of yesterday, the PPP/C had not submitted any names to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). Party members including former President Donald Ramotar have been picketing since the declaration of the election results. The party is reportedly still displeased that its request for a full recount was not granted by the Commission and has maintained the view that the May 11th elections were rigged.

In light of the fact that the PPP is the only viable opposition (no other party that contested the General and Regional elections gained any seats) Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs indicated yesterday that with the continued absence of the PPP/C, the workings of the sectoral committees – Natural Resources, Economic Services, Foreign Relations and Social Services – will essentially be placed in jeopardy, since a Government cannot scrutinize itself.

“The purpose of the sectoral committees is to scrutinize government policies and administration. You cannot have Government scrutinizing its own policy and administration. People would get the impression that they would not do a proper job. So I feel the opposition must be a part of these committees.”

Guyana’s 11th parliament is slated to be opened today

“The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is responsible for the examination of government expenditure and accounts, is chaired by a member of the opposition. You would not want the PAC with just government members.”

“The Parliamentary Management Committee (PMC)’s membership is six from the majority (government) and five from the opposition. But a quorum (minimum number of members) would be five persons. Two Government, two opposition and a speaker. So if you don’t have the opposition, you would not have a quorum. You cannot have a committee without a quorum.”

According to Isaacs, once their names are submitted, they must attend their first sitting and make and pledge their oaths, after which they will be paid. Should they not attend the first sitting, however, the Clerk indicated that their salaries would stop. He also explained that in cases of absenteeism for six sittings within two consecutive months, the defaulting MPs would be forced to vacate their seats in the National Assembly.

Some articles of the constitution require a two-thirds majority in order to be amended, he explained, something impossible to attain without the opposition, while others just require a majority or could be pushed to a referendum. Articles just requiring a majority, he went on to point out, could be amended by the Government.

Minister of State Joseph Harmon, in his capacity as General Secretary of A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) has already written to the PPP/C, inviting the party to get on board. On Monday, General Secretary of the PPP/C Clement Rohee confirmed receipt of that letter, but indicated that the letter was not an invitation from the Government, but rather from APNU+AFC.

While he skirted the issue of addressing the letter, Rohee did indicate that the PPP/C had still not decided on entering parliament, a position that remains unchanged.

The APNU+AFC list of Parliamentarians is composed of 36 MPs, three of whom do not have the power to vote in parliament but are considered technocrats. Those three are Sydney Allicock, Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs; Keith Scott, Junior Minister of Communities; and Winston Felix, Minister of Citizenship. The President is granted the right to appoint as much as four technocrats as Governmental representatives.

The complete list of APNU+AFC front benchers (first row)are: Vice President (VP) and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo; VP and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; VP and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan; Minister of Indigenous  Affairs, Sydney Allicock; Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams; Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally; Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine; Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan; Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton; Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan; Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman; Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence; Minister of State, Lt. Col (ret’d) Joseph Harmon and Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson.

The back benchers (second row) for the coalition are: Minister of Tourism, Cathy Hughes; Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix; Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin; Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder; Junior Minister of Communities, Keith Scott; Junior Minister of Communities, Dawn Hastings-Williams; Junior Minister of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson; Junior Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Valerie Garrido-Lowe; Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma; Junior Minister of Public Health, Dr. Karen Cummings; Junior Minister of Social Protection, Simona Broomes; Junior Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry; Jennifer Wade; Rajcoomarie Bancroft; John Adams; Richard Allen; Michael Carrington; Jermaine Figueira; Valarie Patterson; Charrandas Persaud; Hemraj Rajkumar; Audwyn Rutherford.

First time APNU+AFC Parliamentarians are Holder, Broomes, Jordan, Henry, Gaskin, Allen, Rutherford, Figueira, Adams, Rajkumar, Bancroft, Persaud, Patterson and Wade. Notables from the 10th parliament but absent in the 11th are Sharma Solomon, Vanessa Kissoon, James Bond, Christopher Jones, Desmond Trotman and Trevor Williams.