Speaker expresses optimism over consensus in House tomorrow

- Says while things will be a bit tense at tomorrow’s session, no one wants to shut the country down --  After contention, frustration …

Written by Adele Rampersaud  

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 21:26

Source - Guyana Chronicle

Speaker of the National Assembly Mr. Raphael Trotman

SPEAKER of the National Assembly, Mr. Raphael Trotman has expressed optimism that the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the Opposition parliamentary parties, Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), will reach consensus during tomorrow’s highly anticipated sitting of the House.

During an interview with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, he noted that his responsibility, as Speaker, is to move the business of the Parliament forward, in such a manner as to avoid gridlock.

Trotman said he has recognised that there was some level of contention at the last meeting of the House and opted to use his office as Speaker to help the two sides reach agreement.

Since that February 16 occasion, Speaker Trotman had indicated his intention to initiate a meeting with the parties on both sides of the House to resolve the issue.

He said discussions were held and both sides have committed to moving ahead with the country’s business.

The Speaker said both the ruling and the opposition parties have indicated their willingness to avoid deadlock and he attributed what happened at the time of the disagreement to frustration and personality clashes.

“All the Members of Parliament and Ministers of Government have resolved to do what is best for the people,” he reported.

The Speaker is of the view that, while things will be a bit tense at tomorrow’s session, there will be some forward movement with the business of the country, as no one wants to shut it down and deny people their wages, hence preventing development.

Meanwhile, regarding the last two sittings of the National Assembly, at which the ruling party was dissatisfied with the manner in which the order of business was conducted, Trotman declared that, while there is frustration, some realities exist, as well.

“Some things you win and some things you don’t win but I recognise that there is some frustration,” he reiterated.

The Speaker maintained: “We don’t always get what we would like and this is why I always say that consensus is important.”

NEW POWERS

He pointed out that the opposition parties have some new powers that did not exist before, but emphasised the need for them to be used responsibly.

The Speaker said the governing party should also take into consideration that some of the powers it once had are now shared with the other side of the House and the Opposition should also realise that having power is one thing but using it maturely is another issue.

“However, I believe that both parties are coming to that understanding of that reality and so we’re finding a balance,” Trotman said.

At the last sitting of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds had registered the Government’s disappointment and astonishment at the events that unfolded, which saw the Opposition’s refusal to approve four aspects of Financial Paper Number Seven for supplementary provisions on Current and Capital Estimates.

In addition, the combined Opposition also requested that Financial Paper Number Eight be amended and re-submitted to the House, to allow for more transparency, since, according to them, the details of the projects were not specified.

The Government side had insisted that there could be no question of the details of the foreign funded projects, for which the provisions are sought, not being transparent, as the information required can be found on the websites of the donor agencies and government websites.

The Government has deemed the Opposition’s move as the coming together of APNU and AFC to withhold approving expenditure that was incurred from the Contingencies Fund in accordance with the law.

The ruling party had contended that the expenses were incurred in delivering goods and services to the Guyanese people and the actions of the combined Opposition are to stymie the legitimate work of the Administration.

However, the ruling party has announced that it will be moving to the Constitutional Court as well as Parliament, by way of a motion, to confront what it deems as wrongdoings by the parliamentary Opposition.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing last week, said the collaboration between the two parties is leading to an unprincipled action, one that Cabinet is not willing to accept.

He said Cabinet called it the betrayal of parliamentary norms and the abuse of constitutional provisions by the combined parliamentary opposition and motions have been drafted and presented at the level of Parliament, questioning those decisions and requesting the House to declare them null and void.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 21:28