| No confidence motion against Home Affairs Minister, a dangerous move - Teixeira - compromises role of Commission of Inquiry |  |  |  |
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| Wednesday, 25 July 2012 23:27 |
PRESIDENTIAL Advisor on Governance and PPP/C’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira yesterday slammed the opposition, particularly A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), for reneging on an agreement yet again, with regard to the Linden issue.  Gail Teixeira Government stood firm in its view that due to the purport of the content of the Motion coupled with the issue of government having the right to respond, the necessary period of notice should have been heeded. Moreover, parliamentary conventions and practices dictate that any Motion of No Confidence against a member of Parliament, a minister or the government must have an agreed date on when it will be debated; further, amendments to the said Motion are also permissible. Teixeira pointed out that since the Standing Orders do not make any reference to Motions of No Confidence, proceeding with this Motion would be eroding normal and accepted parliamentary procedure. President Donald Ramotar had announced that a full investigation will be launched into the fatal shooting of three Linden protestors. During his meetings with representatives of APNU, AFC, Regional Chairman of Region 10, Sharma Solomon and the private sector, an agreement was reached to have a Commission of Inquiry investigate the events leading up to the shootings. Subsequently, APNU member Joseph Harmon and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon were assigned to complete the drafting of the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Commission by August 2. Government’s Chief Whip called the Motion a “dangerous move” and lamented that, “what the opposition and the APNU in particular, are doing to go to a Motion of No Confidence against Minister Rohee is really damaging and practically throwing out an agreement that was reached to have a Commission of Inquiry.” She added that moving ahead with it, is an erosion of the parliamentary democracy for which many people have fought hard. “The Motion of No Confidence assumes guilt of both the police and the minister and this is reprehensible in light of a Commission of Inquiry. It therefore says to this Commission that you either take a pre-judged situation that the minister is guilty and the police are guilty and therefore the role of the Commission is now compromised,” she stated. The President held another meeting on July 23 with the Regional Chairman, who was accompanied by Aubrey Norton, Vanessa Kissoon, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes and several other agreements were made. These include agreements to have a technical team look into all the practical implications with respect to electricity tariffs in Linden and in the interim, to put on hold the July 1 deadline for the increase. Further, agreements were made to look at economic initiatives that would help to further advance the development of Linden. At the end of the meeting, government committed to draft the language to reflect the discussions that were held. These were submitted to Solomon and all other stakeholders who were involved in the talks since July 18; at the moment, government is still awaiting a response from Solomon. “So the development in the Parliament is to hype up and to continue to raise the ante instead of finding a way forward,” Teixeira was quoted by the Government Information Agency as saying in her conclusion. |
