BEWARE: The Subversion of Parliament
By Donald Ramotar
In the run up to the 2015 elections, both the APNU and AFC spoke much of democracy, consultations and all the right catch phrases. On assuming office, they abandoned all pretence of those promises. Deception has now become an important characteristic of the regime, which comprise many former military officers.
In many ways, this period resembles that of 1964 when the PNC came to office. They also spoke of consultative democracy then, but their ‘good intentions’ ended up in a dictatorial state. They, too, had set out to deceive.
There are differences too. While the descent into a dictatorship under Burnham was a slow process (the reason for this was because the United Force (UF) acted as a brake on the speed that he wanted to go), the current regime is moving at break neck speed.
However, the AFC is not playing the same restraining role that the UF did. Instead, they are facilitators/supporters of the fast rate of descent into dictatorship.
In this article, we will focus on the current state of the National Assembly.
Our Parliament is the highest institution in our land and how it functions is a reflection of and determines how society also functions. How it operates also impacts on daily life in the society.
As mentioned earlier, both parties currently in office spoke glowingly of Parliamentary democracy and how smoothly it would function if they were elected to office.
However, their actions thus far have proven that they have abandoned most of their full fledged promises made before the elections.
Their dictatorial leadership style is leading to a subversion of that high institution.
In the first place, the National Assembly is not meeting as frequently as it used to. Since the recess, we have had only two sittings. The most recent was held on Thursday, December 30, 2015.
Compare the situation now to when the PPP/C was in office.
Then, the National Assembly met almost weekly and members were allowed to freely express their views. This has been an outstanding feature of the Assembly during the twenty years the PPP/C held office.
Additionally, all members were granted extensions to speak on matters that arose.
Now, we see efforts to curtail debates. PPP/C Members of Parliament are being limited in the amount of time granted to speak on motions and bills.
The recent debate on the increase on ministerial salaries was the latest display of such limitations. Not only was the amount of time cut short, but the number of speakers listed to speak on the topic was not allowed.
The opposition is being denied the right to speak.
We witnessed also during the budget debates the actions of the Speaker of the House when he refused to give PPP/C speakers extensions on time to speak. Further, he constantly distracted them by purposely reminding them of the time left to speak. That acted to throw off the speakers from their topic.
Alas, he seemed to have fallen asleep when the government MPs were speaking. They were granted all the extra time they needed without his intervening in the same manner.
Heckling also is an age-old tradition in the Assembly and is a good thing sometimes as it lightens the tense atmosphere and adds a bit of humour to debates. But now, when PPP/C MPs are speaking, what takes place is not heckling, but a well-orchestrated action to distract the speakers.
This kind of behavior is utterly ridiculous. It is difficult to hear the opposition MPs when they speak due to the actions of the government MPs.
The Speaker does very little to curb this hooliganistic behavior of the government MPs. And his obvious lack of effort to reprimand them when they malign the PPP/C MPs is clear proof that he himself is contributing to the public image of the Parliament becoming a rubber stamp.
It is also noticeable that the regime’s ministers have no intention of answering questions put to them by the opposition MPs. A classic example of this is the failure to respond to the questions posed by the opposition regarding the expenditure incurred for President Granger’s inauguration ceremony. It was tragic, yet comical to see how they ‘tripping’ themselves when they attempted to cover up the wastage.
Many other questions remain unanswered. And most noticeable is the arrogance displayed when refusing to respond (or in some cases, a partial response) to questions asked by the opposition are given.
As with the PNC’s former days as a government, we see that this regime has adopted the old policy of rushing through bills in the National Assembly. They are bulldozing the most important pieces of legislation through the Assembly, many of which need to go to a Special Select Committee so that they (bills) could benefit from a wide input from both the opposition, other stakeholders and the general public.
A glance at the PPP/C’s record would show that the most complicated bills were sent to Select Committees. This practice is now rapidly fading away.
The regime has abused their one-seat majority by using it to suspend the Standing Orders that govern the work of the National Assembly and pass bills through all three stages at one sitting. This denies the opposition of having a say in these matters.
They have shown very scant respect for the views/opinions of important civil society organizations like the Private Sector Commission and the Guyana Human Rights Association, on many issues that have effects on society as a whole, including where these entities have a direct interest.
They have also created a conflict of interest in the setting up of Standing Committees in the National Assembly. During an earlier period, it was agreed that placing ministers of the government in these bodies would not be correct since the committees were designed to be an oversight of the Executive. This is an agreed principle all over the world. Ministers cannot oversight themselves.
This violation, like many others, does not bode well for the APNU+AFC regime. Ministers not only sit on these committees, but also chair some of them. the regime wants to turn these bodies into cover-up committees to hide the government’s wrongdoings.
Clearly, the objective of the committee system is now compromised by the high handed action of the regime.
It is obvious that the old mentality is dominant once again. Rules and Parliamentary conventions do not matter to this bunch of power hungry, power drunk officials.
The name has changed, but their actions now pose a bigger threat than before to our democratic system.
Under Burnham’s PNC, the descent into a dictatorship was gradual. This process was completed in 1973; nine years after the PNC took office.
The current APNU+AFC regime is breaking all records, going in the same direction, but at a breakneck speed.
