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Office of the Prime Minister

November 23 2018

Statement from Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo responding to a motion of no-confidence filed by the Opposition

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

Hi there, I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to speak to you about the no-confidence motion that was tabled recently in the National Assembly.

I have, today, received from the Clerk of the National Assembly, a letter that was addressed to the Opposition, informing the Opposition that the no-confidence motion would not be considered until after the debate of the National Budget that is coming on, on Monday, as well as the estimates.

In my calculation, that could be after the 15th or 16th of December or perhaps later. And, I believe that we need to address why is it that the Opposition feels that this motion should come on for discussion before all other matters, including the National Budget.

I expect that the Guyanese people would see the National Budget as a matter of primary concern to them and their lives. And, Government and I, we have worked towards a budget that is not only bigger, but better than budgets before, with stronger social content. This, for us, is very important.

We have been advised, by the Clerk of the National Assembly, that it is the government that would set a day for the discussion of a no-confidence motion. We are not running away from a no-confidence motion, we are prepared for a discussion of any such motion, but we believe that there are some issues that take precedence over such a motion.

Now, why is it that you have a no-confidence motion at this time? I believe that the Opposition feels quite wrongly that the recent Local Government Elections has passed a judgement on the government, that it was some referendum on the government which is, of course, not only trying to falsify the notion of Local Government Elections but to use it in an opportunistic way to gain an advantage that it could, in fact, move a motion against the government.

In order to move a motion against a government that is being elected by the people of this country, by the majority of votes, you have to be confident that the motion could pass – it could succeed.

In this case, the PPP has moved a motion knowing that it has a minority of votes in the National Assembly. It is the government that has the majority. And, therefore, initially and on the surface of it, a no-confidence motion cannot succeed. It is a no-go. It is a no-no.

And, therefore, you have an Opposition saying now that “Look, it is not that we want it to be approved, if it fails, we succeed.” What kind of logic is that? You start on the basis that your motion cannot succeed and you still believe it is a victory.  So, you want, psychologically, to harass the Guyanese people, to use a no-confidence motion to frustrate the work of the National Assembly.

If this motion is tied, it doesn’t pass. First, the constitution – our law says that in order for a motion of no-confidence to pass it must have a majority of the elected members of the National Assembly.

I’ll repeat that. It must have a majority of all elected members of National Assembly. Our National Assembly has 65 members. It means that the motion of no-confidence, in order to pass, must have 33 members who are elected as members of the National Assembly. The Opposition doesn’t have that. It is the Government that has 33 members who are elected and sitting in the National Assembly.

So, what does the Opposition say? “Oh, we will still put the motion for debate because maybe, maybe, just maybe, one member of the government’s side may abstain from the vote.”

Well, if you abstain, assuming that is possible, then it would have a 32/32 and that is why I said just now that if a motion is tied, the mover loses the motion, so it is defeated.

So, there is no logical argument that this motion can succeed and you are on the presumption of regularity assuming that if you go this far, to move a motion, you must have some hope – some prospect of its success.

As a lawyer, I know that cases are thrown out when you go for an injunction and the judge will refuse an injunction on the basis that you have not established your case, that the writ that you have filed has a prospect of success, some would say a reasonable prospect of success.

This motion, by the Opposition, has no reasonable prospect for any success in the National Assembly.

I want to go back to 2014 because the Opposition has said that Government is frustrating the motion from being heard, that the Government doesn’t want such a motion to be debated.

We are not afraid of debate. We are old debaters. Question is, there is an old unwritten law, this is inequity that says “He who wants justice must come with clean hands”.

What is the record of the Opposition PPP on the issue of a no-confidence motion?

I tabled a no-confidence motion on the 9th of August, 2014, it was seconded by Cathy Hughes, who is now Minister of Public Telecommunications and, the government of the day – the PPP-Government refused to have that motion debated.

The Parliament was supposed to resume on the 10th of October when to motion qualified to be heard, but no Parliament was summoned. The PPP-Government, then headed by President Donald Ramotar, decided to convene the Parliament on the 10th of November.

When we appeared in the National Assembly, under Speaker Raphael Trotman, hoping that the no-confidence motion would be debated, the government’s side did not turn up.

We were told, while we were sitting in the National Assembly, that the President had prorogued the National Assembly. He suddenly sent everyone home for six months and never reconvened the National Assembly to debate my motion of no-confidence against the PPP-Government. At a time when we had a majority in the opposition, so, we had a moral right to be able to put a motion because we were sure that such a motion could pass because we had the majority of votes.

That was a lame-duck minority-government and it was running and limping away from my motion of no-confidence and, instead of debating the motion, it dissolved the National Assembly and went into elections.

Of course, predictably, the PPP lost those elections and I recall then, and I’ll share with you now, that my motion of no-confidence, contained ten words “that this National Assembly has no-confidence in the government”. I chose the ten words biblically from the ten commandments because at that time there was widespread thieving, that’s what the Guyanese say – thieving, not stealing – widespread thieving, and violation of the Constitution of Guyana.

So, that is the moral suasion with which I moved that vote of no-confidence.  And so, I wanted to highlight, in the motion by using ten words, “thou shall not steal”.

Now, we know that they ran away from that motion and today, they are trying a trick to let it appear as if they are bringing a motion with ten words, which they borrowed or plagiarized from me, to show that there must be something that is wrong in Guyana or something that is desperately unsettling so that you have to move in this direction.

Our government has been a stable government. We have been able to restore peace and public order to Guyana. We have been able to build incrementality a new face of Guyana. Now, we stand on the cusp of a new oil and gas economy.

Everyone is commenting that Guyana will grow in a very exponential way, fantastically, we will develop and grow and become rich and wealthy. And so, the Opposition is salivating in those dark benches and trying to sow a picture of gloom-and-doom of Guyana. Worse yet, it is trying to take away, like the Grinch, the happy feeling people would feel at Christmas time, so they are hoping that this motion could be debated on the eve of Christmas. So that your children would not enjoy the happy festive season.

We will debate this motion, we will have this motion discussed and we will defeat it because it is not a viable motion. It is a motion that is breed out of desperation, it is a motion that is breed out of Opposition frustration, it is a motion that is breed by this opportunism to look forward to the new wealth of Guyana and trying to destabilize our beautiful country.

So, this is what I wanted to talk to you about today. I wanted to let you know that the Opposition motion, of no-confidence in our Coalition Government, is a motion that will be debated when the time comes, as the clerk of the National Assembly said, it is the government that sets a day, allots a day for the debate and this debate will not take place before the Budget presentations. It will be sometime in December and whenever it comes, we say “bring it on” and as I said earlier, it’s a ‘no-go’ and it will be a ‘no-no’. So, it will not pass. So, I hope I have been able to engage your attention these last few minutes and that you understand, now clearer, that this no-confidence-motion has nowhere to go.

Thank you.

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Source

A PPP statement on PM Nagamootoo’s statement follows:

PPP Statement

We observe with amusement the recent vacuous ramblings of Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, on the No-Confidence Motion filed in the National Assembly.

Nagamootoo, in his usual style, strings together a set of sound bites and in the end says nothing other than to make the ridiculous case that the No-Confidence Motion is an act of desperation and he boasts that it will be defeated. But, at the same time,he comically and desperately seeks to argue for a delay in debating it.

As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating: Nagamootoo should stop spouting hot air and bring on the No-Confidence Motion for debate earliest.Despite all the “fat talk”, the truth is he is scared to death to do so. Instead, heparrots the Government’s position that the budget must be presented and debated first.The Government must accept the reality that Nagamootoo is widely regarded as apolitical joke in Guyana and he should be the last person assigned the responsibility of publishing the Government’s position, if the Government wants that position to be taken seriously by the nation.

This man simply has no credibility in the eyes of the Guyanese public because of the number of lies, which he has spoken and written over the years. Only recently, he threatened to demolish the PPP at Whim and at the Local Government Elections (LGE). The results show that not even the backers voted for his candidates at Whim and the AFC received less than 4% of the total votes cast at the LGE.On the issue of fear and desperation, we wish to remind Mr. Nagamootoo that as“Leader of Government Business”, instead of leading his troops to Parliament, last Friday he led them into hiding at Congress Place and with the gates securely locked and the environs surrounded by a band of aggressive APNU supporters, he then puffed his chest to the press, as he declared that he is not afraid of the No-Confidence Motion! 

We reiterate our call for the No-Confidence Motion to be debated in the Parliament earliest and we respectfully demand that the National Assembly puts the Motion up for debate. We say to the Government, stop the grand standing outside the National Assembly and come to the National Assembly to debate the Motion.

 People’s Progressive Party

November 23, 2018

Django
Last edited by Django

PPP’s no-confidence motion is “a joke”; to be debated after 2019 budget – Greenidge, Nagamootoo

November 23 2018

Source

The opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP)-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Guyana government would be debated after the passage of the 2019 National Budget and estimates of expenditure, top government officials said Friday.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said the motion, submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, could be debated after the 15th or 16th of December “or perhaps later.” The Prime Minister made known government’s position after receiving a copy of a letter that the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs dispatched to Jagdeo.

Budget Day 2019 is slated for November 26 after which the 65-seat National Assembly would meet the following two weeks to debate and consider the estimates of expenditure.

Isaacs has already said that it is the government’s prerogative to decide when a no-confidence motion is placed on the Order Paper for debate.

Nagamootoo said with the motion would require 33 elected members of the National Assembly for its passage, but if one government parliamentarian abstains there would be a tie. “If a motion is tied, the mover loses the motion so it is defeated so there is no logical argument that this motion can succeed,” he said on government’s Department of Public Information (DPI) Facebook page.

Earlier Friday, Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge stopped short of challenging the PPP to get a majority vote in the House against the government which, he said, would have the same effect of a no-confidence motion. “When you see an opposition around the time of the budget still coming with a no-confidence motion, you know it’s a joke because it has the same effect. Why would you put a no-confidence motion when you can simply take the vote in relation to a budgetary matter and vote against it and bring the government down. We are into jokes,” he said.

“If you want to bring down a government, vote down any of the instruments or the whole Appropriation Bill,” he added. “If a government fails to win the passage of their Appropriation Bill, it has to resign. A no confidence motion does the same thing,” he added.

Like the Prime Minister, he said debate on the no-confidence motion would have to await the completion of government business and in particular the budget.

Jagdeo filed the no-confidence motion on November 15, 2018, citing alleged corruption, mismanagement and deteriorated standard of living due to increased taxes and increased job losses.

Django
Nehru posted:

This Namakaram ass kissing Crabdaag. How the hell you know how many will vote for/against. Maybe the last 2 years cleaning shit and wiping Batty affected your Pea brain!!!

Bhai Nehru, you always have high praises for these guys.

FM
Django posted:

Statement from Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo responding to a motion of no-confidence filed by the Opposition

Office of the Prime Minister

November 23 2018

Statement from Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo responding to a motion of no-confidence filed by the Opposition

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

Hi there, I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to speak to you about the no-confidence motion that was tabled recently in the National Assembly.

I have, today, received from the Clerk of the National Assembly, a letter that was addressed to the Opposition, informing the Opposition that the no-confidence motion would not be considered until after the debate of the National Budget that is coming on, on Monday, as well as the estimates.

In my calculation, that could be after the 15th or 16th of December or perhaps later. And, I believe that we need to address why is it that the Opposition feels that this motion should come on for discussion before all other matters, including the National Budget.

Words, words and lots of words with absolutely nothing of substance.

FM

This is not a political comment regarding his topic. But I find it difficult  to understand when people use a phrase like...'the proof in the pudding is in the eating'.

It seems they lack knowledge to describe  in their own words  what they are trying to say.

Also, if this phrase is read  by ordinary citizens in Guyana, how many will understand its meaning.

A teacher could make himself look intelligent, but leave the entire class behind.     

Tola
Tola posted:

This is not a political comment regarding his topic. But I find it difficult  to understand when people use a phrase like...'the proof in the pudding is in the eating'.

It seems they lack knowledge to describe  in their own words  what they are trying to say.

Also, if this phrase is read  by ordinary citizens in Guyana, how many will understand its meaning.  

Indeed. How many Guyanese know what a pudding is, let alone have something to eat on a daily basis? Through PPP selfish policies more Guyanese have gone hungry during the PPP years of waste not want. Most Guyanese living in Guyana cannot even afford to buy a newspaper to know what is going on.

Mr.T

I don’t understand what the PPP statement is hoping to accomplish.  The fact that the AFC lost out in the LGE is irrelevant.  Seems like a personal angry rant against Nagamootoo.  Fact remains, he has his votes, PPP want it.  The proof is in the votes!

On the other hand, Nagamootoo also asking stupid questions.  The PPP wants it ASAP to validate the legitimacy of the government!

Politics seems now insults between PPP and AFC while the PNC just looks on.  Divide conquer!

FM
Django posted:

Sit back and wait for the charade !!!

Don’t talk too fat too fast.  There is WPA and JFAP!  Maybe Jagdeo still ding Ayuh!

FM
Last edited by Former Member
Billy Ram Balgobin posted:

Who are the rebel MPs?

PNC wasted no time in locking down parliament and grilling their MPs. 

I wonder sometimes because, say what you want, Jagdeo is not a stupid guy.  Maybe we see lie detectors being carted in. Bear in mind, if you get two coalition abstentions, it’s early election.

Have Bart Simpson said anything?

FM

November 24 2018

Source

That no confidence motion debate

The opposition People’s Progressive Party has tabled a no confidence motion against the government. This is not really surprising given that Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has been sniping at the government ever since it assumed office.The sniping began almost as soon as the 2015 election results were declared. For starters, the People’s Progressive Party contended that the elections were rigged. It moved to the courts to prove its point. This matter by way of an elections petition is still to be heard.
The PPP then began sniping at the economic performance of the government. Scarcely a day went by without the opposition finding something to be critical about. Even when answers were offered, as was the case of the Auditor General reports, the opposition chose to rely on the incomplete information provided by the Auditor General.

One issue that attracted multiple criticisms for the government was the contract signed by the government with ExxonMobil. The fact that the contract was released was historical. The opposition when it held the seat of government, treated every contract as a private matter. The country was kept in the dark.Each contract was governed by what the then government called confidentiality clauses.The supposed flaws were detected in the contract and the brouhaha became strident. As could be expected the opposition was largely silent, choosing to use its vocal supporters to attack the contract. These attacks continued even when issues were clarified. It mattered not that in many countries the contracts were never released.


More recently, the opposition began to snipe at the foreign reserves in the central bank. The criticism was that the then government left a lot of money. The reality was that sugar was on the decline; rice was not the foreign exchange earner it was touted to be; and oil prices began a steady rise.Bauxite had long since ceased to be a major foreign exchange earner but there was gold, the mainstay of the economy for almost a decade.These are some of the issues that would come to the fore during the no confidence motion when it is debated. And it will be debated.


Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo knows that he does not have the number of seats to defeat the motion. However, in a clever move, he tabled the motion when Leader of the House, Moses Nagamootoo, was performing the duties of president. Had the motion been debated, and had all the other members been present, there would have been a deadlock. This is no longer the case.But at a recent press conference, Jagdeo said that it would be a win-win situation. He said that he would be provided with a platform to record all his criticisms. The multiple press conferences would be nothing compared to what the parliamentary debate would afford.To cloak the drive for publicity, the Opposition Leader said that he is likely to get two members of the government side to vote with him. He knows that this is not a possibility.

Whatever the case, the public would be exposed to the charges of incompetence. They would also be provided with answers to every criticism.The media would play an important role in disseminating the information. As is the case of every aspect of the society, the media is polarized. One section would promote the charges made by the opposition, another would highlight the government’s position.


Then there would be those that would attempt to be as impartial as the owners would allow them to be. The debate would be interesting.

 
Django
cain posted:

DG is like you want somebody read it fo you.

Cain, the issue is extremely simple ....

1. No-confidence motion presented by the Opposition Leader.

2. Decision and timing for the motion made by the Speaker

=== End of Matter ===

Now ...

Moses' verbose exposition is irrelevant to the matter.

FM

Did the successful no confidence vote by the PNC along with their lap dogs in the AFC when in opposition play out the same way? Posturing by the PPP and eventually heading for a vote? Maybe there is a mole in the ruling party who will upset the apple cart and the PNC buying time to sniff out said mole. 

FM
Last edited by Former Member

I agree with Jagdeo here.  This should be debated and settled if they will retain the mandate to govern.  If not the budget debate has been time wasted.  Clearly they are not confident in themselves.  Two abstentions or one abstention and one defection, party over!

FM

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