Opposition lost golden opportunity to work with Gov’t – President - after one year in office

Georgetown, GINA, November 28, 2012, -- Source - GINA

One year ago today, Guyanese went to the polls in what was considered a closely contested elections that ended with Donald Ramotar being elected the President and making history as the first Head of State to be inducted under the new constitution that limits a President to two terms.

The outcome saw a new dispensation in the country with the opposition parties combined, having a one seat majority over the 32 seats won by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) for which President Ramotar is General Secretary.

“The one seat majority that the opposition got has made them somewhat intoxicated…” President Ramotar said in an interview with the media today.

The selection of both the speaker and deputy speaker of the Parliament from the opposition and the committee of privileges under the opposition majority control were regarded by the government side of the House as assaults on the Parliament.

The $192B National Budget of 2012 lost $20B when the opposition majority voted against key government programmes and agencies that were allocated funds including the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the One Laptop Per Family Programme the Office of the President and State Planning and the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU).

The recent gag motion against Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee and Speaker Raphael Trotman’s ruling to send the matter to the Privileges Committee were described as a violation of the House’s standing orders.

President Ramotar who began his term in office initiating a three – party dialogue with the opposition, said in an interview that the opposition lost a golden opportunity to work with the government.

“The Government wants to work with the opposition to move our country forward… I think much more could have been accomplished had they not taken such a negative position in the Parliament itself by taking the speaker and the deputy speaker (positions), by trying to control every committee… the hostility that they have taken is unbelievable,” President Ramotar said.

The President, who at the opening of the Tenth Parliament in February told Members of Parliament (MPs) that government will not be held ransom to intractable posturing, and had made clear his refusal to sign any opposition piloted legislation that is without government’s input.

Things turned ugly in late July when a protest against reform of the electricity tariff in Linden ended with three persons being killed, prolonged clashes between police and protestors and the mining town cutoff from access.

Following a visit to the town by the President and meetings with the opposition and the Region Ten administration at the Office of the President, an independent Commission of Inquiry got under with highly qualified jurists from the Caribbean.

There was the startling revelation by an overseas ballistics expert brought in by the Alliance for Change that the ammunition that killed the three protestors was not that of the police.

Within 48 hours of his induction to office, President Ramotar installed a 20- member Cabinet that had 11 new faces and one new ministry responsible for Natural Resources and the Environment.

He intervened when the local cricket fraternity was in jeopardy after discrepancies at the level of the Guyana Cricket Board lead to a court ruling for the government to get involved. An interim management committee led by former West Indies player Clive Lloyd was set up to manage the affairs of the game but its work was impeded by de-recognition claims by the GCB and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) sidelining Guyana from hosting games.

He was prompted to intervene after pirates attacked fishermen in the Pomeroon River. The incident caused a large group of fisherfolks from across the country to demand justice and security and a heightened policing of the riverine areas.

He held to his promise of reviewing the tax system by appointing experts to a panel that will lead the review process and kept a close eye on developments in the oil exploration sector, visiting offshore operations in March.

At the regional and international levels President Ramotar delivered debut addresses at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government meeting and the United Nations General Assembly.

He told reporters today that the government has accelerated its infrastructure development agenda as promised in the PPP/C Manifesto. Among them are the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project, the Marriott Guyana Georgetown and the expansion of the four lane highway.