Opposition should put country first

TWENTY FOURTEEN promises to be a particularly interesting year as the size of the anticipated, indiscriminate budget cuts are likely to provoke new elections by year-end. This will indeed be a year of reckoning!

One of my favourite all-time quotes is by the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who said: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.” AFC parliamentarian Moses Nagamootoo and the AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan should be cognisant of this.
In a letter written by, Nagamootoo (Kaieteur News, December 31) the want-to-be next leader of the AFC predicts: “This post-2011 Parliament will go down in history as the most robust in holding the feet of government to the fire of accountability and transparency.” And in a recent article, APNU Leader David Granger tried to justify his party’s obstructionist position to government’s major development projects by saying: “The action we took actually prevented a governmental disaster.” And without any knowledge of what the 2014 National Budget will be like, Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Khemraj Ramjattan has already decided that, “Massive cuts will be inflicted on the 2014 National Budget when it is presented to the National Assembly.”
Nagamootoo’s assertion can be seen in the context of a desperate man positioning himself to take over the leadership of the Alliance For Change, who would shamelessly misrepresent the facts to make his party and himself look good. In fact, the Opposition that makes up the 10th Parliament to which he refers, will be infamously remembered as the most destructive, unproductive, irresponsible and disrespectful bunch of lawmakers since independence. This must surely be an embarrassing and disappointing experience for the Honourable Speaker Raphael Trotman, who, in my opinion, must be commended for trying his best to be fair and impartial in the execution of his duties, despite being one of their own.
Granger’s claim that his party’s actions in Parliament “prevented a governmental disaster” is equally ludicrous. In a Kaieteur News article on January 14, the Opposition Leader openly joins with the AFC Leader to signal his intent to butcher the budget again by adding, “During 2013, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan and I were given a commitment from since early in July to have discussions on the 2014 budget. There had been some exchange between the Shadow Minister of Finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge and the Finance Minister, Dr. Singh, but those were not consultations. Now the budget is far ahead in work. We were not adequately consulted so our contribution to the budget is not as we would have expected… If certain things in the 2014 budget are not in the public’s interest then we will cut where necessary.” Not adequately consulted? Is this a joke Mr Granger? For what other reason was his Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge in consultation with Finance Minister Dr. Singh? Does Granger believe they were discussing the garbage crisis in Georgetown?
To better explain APNU’s defiant position in Parliament, Kaieteur News columnist, Peeping Tom hit the nail on the head on January 14 when he wrote, “Right now the relationship between APNU and the government is extremely strained and therefore it is inevitable for mistrust to be present whenever APNU makes a proposal to the government… In parliament, APNU combined with the AFC to reconfigure the composition of the various committees. The manner in which this was done led the government to conclude that what was afoot was an attempt to administer the affairs of the country from the opposition benches when the Constitution is quite explicit as to who exercises Executive power… Further mistrust was engendered by the brutal manner in which APNU and the AFC went about cutting the 2012 (and the 2013) Budget.
Eventually there were productive negotiations between APNU and the government on this question. The two sides were on the brink of an historic development that would have set the stage for improved relations. But APNU then withdrew, leading to escalation of tensions. The government made available to the opposition parties all the major agreements that it had signed. It went as far also in having special briefings for the opposition parties on the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project. Instead of using the opportunity of those briefings and meetings to vent its concerns, APNU instead withdrew its support for the project.
The government was outraged and accused APNU of acting in bad faith by not raising its concerns. The same thing happened over the Anti-Money Laundering and the Countering of Terrorism Bill which the government felt should have been supported… However, the opposition parties seem bent on using their one-seat majority to introduce legislation which only adds to the suspicion by the government that the opposition parties are attempting to administer the Executive from the benches of parliament.”
The preparation of the national budget is a function of the Executive Branch of government. By cutting the budget, the one-seat opposition in the National Assembly have acted beyond their powers and in breach of the Guyana Constitution. They have usurped the functions of the Executive and have violated the doctrine of separation of powers upon which our Constitution is constructed.
Although David Granger’s comments can be seen to be more measured, Ramjattan’s declared intentions to cut the Budget are nothing less than reckless and irresponsible. In his quest to outdo the PNC/APNU on the issues, this man continues to squander the hopes of so many young Guyanese who were led to believe that the AFC would have been more politically mature to responsibly manage the balance of power in the National Assembly.

Guyanese want their elected representatives to act responsibly in the national interest at all times. The opposition must not use their one-seat majority in Parliament to carry out personal vendettas or acts of vindictiveness.
The three Bills that were recently voted on and passed unanimously: The Firearms (Amendment) Bill; The Evidence (Amendment) Bill; and The Summary Jurisdiction (Procedure)(Amendment) Bill, gained the support of the Joint Opposition only because they were not tabled this time around by the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee. On merit, these Bills should have been passed into law months ago, but Granger and Ramjattan were too obsessed and focused on getting rid of Rohee.
By preventing Rohee from speaking in the National Assembly in an effort to censure him, they foolishly endangered the security of the nation and all Guyanese and failed to achieve their objective.
The passing of these bills has hopefully restored some sanity to the most disruptive and unproductive Parliament I’ve ever seen. It is the hope of all Guyanese that common sense prevails this year in Parliament, and our lawmakers put country first before party and ethnicity.

HARRY GILL