The ball is in the AFC court
July22, 2014
Dear Editor,
“Baseless” – That is how President Ramotar rubbished the AFC’s notice of no confidence against his minority government. But hours later, his Attorney General Anil Nandlall saw the notice as a “threat,” and a move that is “vexatious.”
The Jagdeo-Ramotar cabal is in a tailspin. They were stunned by the 2011 elections result that saw the PPP reduced to a minority government. With seven seats, the AFC figuratively parted the Cs: PPP/C and PNC, and has since occupied the strategic middle ground in Guyana’s torrid power politics.
Not wanting to admit his failed, lacklustre leadership, Mr Ramotar had initially ascribed the party’s defeat to election rigging. Shock was to give way to an incredulous assertiveness that, on a warped notion of “proportionality,” the PPP ought to have a majority on parliamentary committees. That mustered no support from the court. Then they snapped and pelted us with fresh elections political balls.
President Ramotar is now in mid-term, and the snap elections’ threat petered out like froth in a glass of stale beer.
Now, the ball is in our court, and we identified as a potent weapon the option of a no-confidence motion against the minority government. When approved by a simple majority, the government has to resign.
The no confidence option was a petard that we threw into the PPP’s trench. We watched the ripples. “Bring it on!” President Ramotar shouted, as he put on the battle-gear of a “warrior,” ready for new elections. He went into weight-loss training only to get an unexpected, delusional inspiration. It was a ‘bluff’; he thought of the no-confidence mechanism, after some reflection on this option that was first mooted by me some weeks ago.
So, the AFC Leader threw down the gauntlet that showed that we meant business. We consulted with APNU’s leadership and agreed on a raft of measures, that former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran would see as “foreplay,” before triggering the no-confidence option. Firstly, APNU’s Carl Greenidge moved a motion of censure against the recalcitrant Finance Minister Ashni Singh, to have him tried before the Privileges Committee for contempt of the decision of the National Assembly for spending $4.5 billion without approval and in defiance of the order of parliament.
Secondly, the AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan filed a complaint with the Guyana Police Force for criminal prosecution of the said Finance Minister for unlawfully spending or causing to be spent $4.5 billion contrary to specific provisions of the laws of Guyana.
Thirdly, the combined opposition proposed to approach the High Court to injunct the Minister of Finance or any other person acting on his instructions from further spending of tax dollars without approval by the National Assembly, and in violation of the Guyana Constitution.
Additionally, the AFC sent a 10-point proposal to President Ramotar asking that the door of negotiation be left open and for talks on critical matters to take place before a constitutional crisis and a government shut-down.
President Ramotar would have known that the cards were stacked against him. He should have sought counsel in Dr Jagan’s recipe to break deadlock: make any compromise once it would not result in the loss of government.
But Mr Ramotar chose instead the anti-Jagan path: no negotiation; no compromise. He went further and assured everyone that he could deal with the consequences, which is, no government.
Pressure politics
The no-confidence option is part of Guyana’s pressure politics. There was objective need to move the numbers game between government and opposition from that of 32 versus 33, to power politics. In this case, it comes down to the power of one. The majority of one has become the power ball. Momentarily, it may force government to hold local government elections!
So, when President Ramotar was served notice of a no-confidence motion, he did not disappoint anyone by his unimaginative, characteristic, response; he kicked the player not the ball. He went after the AFC leader, ready to pull his pants down. He has lowered his party’s cuss-down politics to trench-bottom level.
President Ramotar has learned nothing from his recent jaunt to Brazil, the venue of the just-concluded World Cup that, in football, a player who kicks or cuffs another player would get the red card, which is how I see his ad hominem assault on AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan.
The PPP would have known that people of AFC’s pedigree don’t bluff. So, they invented new excuses why elections were not on the table:
*Elections Commission not ready;
*people don’t want new elections and, now,
*PPP ready but it is the AFC which must account to the people.
For now, the no-confidence ball is in the AFC’s court. But we do not claim ownership of it by ourselves. Ownership resides in the combined opposition. We must no longer see our one-seat majority as a technical issue, as a numbers game. We have the power ball, and it is time that we kick it home!
President Ramotar is the goalkeeper for the minority government. The ball symbolizes the corruption, lawlessness and incompetence of this government. To prevent this ball from being placed inside the PPP’s net, Mr Ramotar has to do lots of defending. It is he, not Messrs Ramjattan or Hughes or Nagamootoo, who should explain why his government must not lose out in a penalty kick for a host of wrongdoings.
These include:
Failure to make the Integrity Commission fully functional to catch corrupt officials;
Violation of constitution by not establishing Public Procurement Commission to police billion-dollar contracts and the enrichment of a few with dirty money;
Refusal to hold local government elections due 17 years ago, thereby destroying grassroots democracy;
Sidelining state funds to a government side-pocket via NICIL and not putting public monies into Consolidated Fund;
Spending monies, most borrowed, on mega-projects not approved by parliament;
Justifying billion dollar bail-outs in face of massive failure of sugar industry and electricity, and uncertainty of rice sector.
President Ramotar has to say why our hospitals lack beds and medicines, and essential care is not available to poor people and his government is borrowing billions to build a “specialty hospital” for what they call “medical tourism.”
How is he going to justify using up tens of millions of US dollars of taxpayers money to build a Marriott hotel and casino, when pensioners get a measly handout of US$60 per month, and why people crossing the Berbice river bridge have to fork out over $2,000 for a car, while government boasts that Berbicians should be happy to pay through their noses?
Rather than opting for engagement and reconciliation, the Ramotar regime has decided on cuss-down and confrontation. The no-confidence option is gathering momentum and, to borrow the words of Martin Carter, “inevitably and inexorably”, this hard-headed incompetent government would fall. I do not have a crystal ball but this I know: the dynamics of party power politics have changed with the population census.
We can expect more “feral blasts” from the PPP against us. In the days ahead, the PPP would lash out at all and sundry, like a caged juggernath, galloping helter skelter.
It is time for our people to cut this wild thing loose!
Yours faithfully,
Moses Nagamootoo
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