Rohee predicts ‘Tsunami’ victory for PPP/C at the next polls … accuses opposition of ‘political posturing’
By Gary Eleazar
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, yesterday sought to debunk the Combined Opposition presentations thus far in the House as ‘lies and political posturing.’
Rohee, in the 2012 Budget debate, said that the opposition political posturing is replicated even where the opposition speakers have honed in on specific perceived instances of controversy and a lack of transparency and accountability.
Rohee said that the opposition criticisms of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Project, the CJIA Expansion and the proposed Georgetown Marriott all lack substance and fall in the realm of political posturing.
The Home Affairs Minister stated that such is the rhetoric of the political opposition that should there be General or Local Government Elections then the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) would have a Tsunami-like victory at the polls.
In speaking to the much talked about new dispensation of Parliament, Rohee said, “The fact is 166,127 persons have kept us in the government and we have no doubt that come next election or the Local Government elections there will be a resurgence like a tsunami.”
“Nothing that APNU says about the economy is true,” said Rohee as he reminded that the government for its part has over the years consistently set out its developmental agendas.
In dismissing the budget debates as a routine replete with rhetoric and lies, Rohee said that it all boils down to two extreme positions.
He explained that on one hand there is the argument that prior to 1992 nothing has happened in terms of development for the country while there are those that argue that post 1992 is the period where there has been no progress in terms of development.
Rohee said that in the end what it comes down to is a contest of credibility.
The Home Affairs Minister reminded, also, of President Donald Ramotar’s words when he reached out to the opposition at the opening of the 10th Parliament but warned that the government will not be held to ransom.
The Minister said that throughout the process, the Opposition has been throwing dust in eyes of people to make them believe that PPP/Cs programmes and policies are not in their interest.
The opposition arguments lacked substance when the members talked about projects such as the proposed Marriott, he said.
“It’s all about political posturing; nothing of substance in opposition.”
“Nothing that APNU says about economy is true…it’s all about political posturing,” and accused the actions of the opposition as being “tantamount to executing national scam.”
Rohee said that the opposition is doing what it is expected to do, which is to oppose but he warned that it is his belief that given the new political dispensation in the House “they are likely to go further.”
He drew reference to the debate on Financial Papers seven and eight which were recently debated in the House and for which the opposition voted down several provisions.
The Minister said that it was his hope that with the convening of the 10th Parliament and the installation of A Partnership for National Unity, “we would have witnessed a much more constructive approach to this matter of national importance…The fact of the matter is, the more things change, the more they remain the same.”
He said that the opposition has been delivering the same, “puerile, meaningless, hollow political arguments, placing us in this humdrum of a Parliamentary debate.”
On the issue of transparency and accountability, Rohee told the House that he has heard the constant carping and asked if the opposition parties were its custodians and drew reference to the fact that during the time of the PNCR the issue of accountability and transparency was topical.
“Are we to understand that Transparency and Accountability can only be achieved when the opposition is involved and that it does not lie in the realm of the Government?”
The Minister begged the question, “What about the talk of us working together?” He also questioned what benchmarks will be used for such an engagement.
The Minister cautioned of what awaits. It is hoped that the opposition has not already made up its mind and that “this is their moment of glory.”
He said that he hopes that the presentations on the part of the government side would have informed the opposition critics.
