President’s threat to prorogue or dissolve parliament … A cowardly attempt to avoid debating its performance – Granger

- “But Ramotar did not seem to work out the possibility of an angry population”

By Kiana Wilburg, November 8, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News

After traversing “the depths of the forest to the communities along the Atlantic Coast,” A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) believes that Guyanese have got to the stage where they are “fed-up” of the People’s Progressive Party and are “eager to throw them” out once early general elections are realized.

Opposition Leader, David Granger

More significantly, the Leader of the APNU, David Granger, is of the conviction that President Donald Ramotar’s intentions to prorogue or dissolve the National Assembly before facing the Alliance For Change’s (AFC) No-Confidence Motion, is a move only designed to “invent a crisis.”

He deemed it as a cowardly attempt to avoid a debate on its poor performance.

At his weekly press conference held at his Hadfield Street Headquarters, Granger told the media that Ramotar’s utterances were made without him considering the implications that can be brought on by further frustrating an “angry population” with such options.

The Opposition Leader said that President Donald Ramotar’s dreadful broadcast to the nation last Tuesday evening was an insult to the people of Guyana. He said that Ramotar’s threat would only paralyse the parliamentary process and smother the voices of his legitimate representatives in the National Assembly.

Granger said that the President’s announcement of its possible options, has only served to aggravate the continuing constitutional crisis.

He said, too, that it has only served to drain “whatever confidence the public might have had in its commitment to the democratic resolution of political issues. It shattered hopes that he could ever lead the nation forward out of the one-party, ‘winner-takes-all’ mentality of his predecessors.”

He also said that the President’s delay in reconvening the National Assembly and in calling local government elections has also damaged democracy.

The President’s broadcast was a political catastrophe for his Cabinet, party and the country at large, the APNU Parliamentarian said. He added that his coalition will not accept the threatened denial of democracy.

Granger then brought into the spotlight, Ramotar’s mishandling of the most recent scandal involving the Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, in the profanity laced 19-minute recorded conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter.

The President’s actions with regard to the recording, Granger said, has dismayed the nation and eroded public respect for the PPP/C regime.

Granger said that the confidence of the electorate in the government has also diminished in several areas.

Pointing to the area of ministerial responsibility, the Opposition leader said that the public has lost confidence in several senior PPP/C ministers.

He said, “The ‘Anilgate’ scandal involving vulgar and scurrilous statements made by the Minister of Legal Affairs during a telephone conversation; the Parliamentary vote of ‘no-confidence against the Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee in July 2012; the jeering of the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand after her vulgar ‘feral blast’ in July 2014 and the referral of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh to the Committee of Privileges, indicate how little confidence the public has in PPP/C Ministers.”

As for Parliamentary independence, Granger said prorogation is a dangerous gambit intended to paralyze the parliamentary process. It can have unpredictable consequences, he said.

“The President should face the debate on the PPP/C’s record in office, rather than hide under the cover of prorogation. The President has obstructed the reconvening of Parliament for one month. He infringed on the Speaker’s authority and intruded officiously into the affairs of the Legislative branch,” Granger lamented.

With regard to the supremacy of the Constitution, the APNU leader said that the President’s announced “intention to hold Local Government Elections in the Second Quarter of next year, 2015,” flouts the Constitution and insults the nation. He said that the further postponement of elections to an unannounced date sometime in the second quarter of 2015 makes a mockery of the Constitution.

The APNU politician, on that very note, then reiterated his coalition’s unwavering support for the “No-Confidence” motion facing the PPP/C administration.

Additionally, the APNU and the AFC met yesterday where they discussed and devised a strategy to counter the curve ball thrown their way in the face of the unprecedented motion.

Granger admitted that at this point, there is no legal instrument that could be used to halt any action by Ramotar to make good on his threats.

“The President did not seem to work out the implications of an angry population. There is no state of emergency to justify such behaviour…,” he added.

Granger lamented that it is important for the electorate to be privileged to a well planned debate over the Ramotar stewardship. “But by the proposed prorogation or dissolution of the House, the (PPP is) trying to buy time in order to share out more goodies, and other pre-elections inducements. I think that is what is going to end up happening,” Granger noted.

The Opposition Leader also sought to reassure the electorate that while elections are quite costly, the APNU is very prepared. He said that the elections will not be won by “monetary persuasion” for he believes that citizens have reached their point of saturation.

“They are fed up with the Anil-gate, the Priya-gate and the Ashni-gate; they want a new government.”

The coalition’s General Secretary, Joseph Harmon, also sought to assure the media that all will be done to secure an early debate of  the no-confidence motion.

Source - http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....performance-granger/