(Eyewitness)The early news from the People Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Congress, coming from the man who decides these things – from the horse’s mouth so to speak – is that the door has been slammed firmly shut in the face of the opposition as far as getting a piece of executive power is concerned. No power sharing!! President Donald Ramotar was in a pugnacious mood as he slipped seamlessly from the straitjacket of the presidential protocols to the head of the largest political party in the land.
He could “tell it as it is” on a whole range of issues. The whole country can see by now that the opposition – emboldened by their one-seat majority in the National Assembly – spent the last two years ignoring the duties inherent in the leadership of that branch of government. But lusting 24/7 for the powers of the executive.
Take just one aspect of the assembly’s function – scrutinising the work of the government in real time. Four new sectoral committees were formed, which gave them the wherewithal to question every aspect of the executive’s performance – but these went into hibernation as the opposition preferred to “play president” and craft the budget!
Take the Amaila Falls hydro project. The Economic Services Committee (ESC) – led and dominated by the opposition – could’ve called any member of the government or any of its agencies to testify about it. They claim they don’t have experts to analyse the project technically (this hasn’t stopped them from mouthing off on any number of issues beyond their ken) but in the ESC, they’re entitled to hire experts to assist them in their analyses.
But they refused to go that route, didn’t they?? After all, that would mean reading reports and asking questions out of the glare (and publicity) of the parliamentary floor. That would mean work – and that’s one four letter word that drives fear into the hearts of the opposition!! No, they’d rather play “president”.
After attempting to accommodate their egos in the tripartite talks, the very patient president finally accepted that short of him walking out of the Office of the President (OP), nothing else would please this opposition. We understand that in the first round of this gratuitous act of statesmanship on the part of the president, a fellow who used to be his water-boy in the day – but is now an “opposition leader” – asked to “try out” the presidential chair.
He refused to participate in further tripartite talks after being rebuffed by the president. Well, looks like he’ll be pouting for another three years!!
