Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 02, 2014 News
Almost a month after the National Assembly officially came out of its three month recess; the President has finally
passed instructions for steps to be taken to convene a sitting.
Through a missive released by the Office of the President yesterday afternoon, President Donald Ramotar has directed that steps be taken to convene a sitting within the next 14 days.
The press release stated that his decision comes after he was apprised of the Leader of the Opposition David Granger’s recent statements as reported in the media with regard to talks with him; specifically on Local Government Elections and matters directly linked to it.
Granger, who is also the Leader of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), had said recently that all talks are off the table between him and the President as he now sees it as “pointless.” Granger’s comments were in response to the utterances of the President to the effect that he will definitely not be calling Local Government Elections anytime soon.
Yesterday, the Office of the President said that since there are to be no more talks between the Head of State and the Opposition Leader there is no longer any benefit to the country for any further delays in convening a sitting of the National Assembly.
The statement continued that “The Government reiterates its position that the convening of a sitting of the National Assembly must be done in accordance with the Standing Orders and long cherished parliamentary practices. The Government has a number of pending legislative matters before the House prior to the annual recess. Further, there are important financial papers relating to the development of the country and growth of the economy that need to be urgently addressed.”
Recently, there has been much drama surrounding the delay in the convening of the National Assembly to the extent that there has been a so called “clash of the whips (government chief whip, Gail Teixeira and Opposition Chief Whip, Amna Ally.”
The Alliance For Change (AFC) had expressed disappointment that there has been no effort to convene a sitting of the National Assembly since the recess period ended on October 10.
The AFC said that it strongly believed that the delay in the announcement of a sitting was as a result of the No Confidence Motion that it tabled against the Government. The Motion was submitted to Clerk of the Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs on August 7, last. It was filed by AFC Vice-Chairman and Member of Parliament, Moses Nagamootoo and seconded by AFC Member of Parliament, Cathy Hughes.
Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman, has since pronounced that it met the criteria for Motions. The Motion, once passed, will result in the resignation of President Ramotar and his entire Cabinet.
The President will be forced to call General Elections within three months.
In a letter to Isaacs dated October 10, Nagamootoo requested that it be placed on the Order Paper as a matter of priority, to take precedence over all other business of the House and for debate at the earliest sitting.
Also, there have been many letters to the Editor from citizens expressing frustration over the delay to call a sitting. One prominent citizen, Lincoln Lewis had written that Guyanese should not tolerate these Members of Parliament not showing up to work.
The Speaker had last week attempted to bring an end to the delay and had instructed the Clerk of the National Assembly to make preparations to have a sitting next Thursday. But Isaacs refused.
Even though Isaacs refused to comment much on the matter, the Speaker had issued a statement saying, “I was formally notified by the Clerk of the National Assembly that after consideration, my request for the National Assembly to be convened on Thursday, November 6, 2014, cannot be given effect to by him because he is of the view that the Speaker lacks the authority to convene sittings of [the] National Assembly under Standing Order 8 (1) and (2).”
But even with all this drama the President had hinted he would have soon issued instructions to have the National Assembly reconvened.
This was as he spoke at the National Toshaos Conference last Wednesday. He said that it was not strange, historically, for the first sitting of the National Assembly to be pushed back.
He told Amerindian Leaders “we have absolutely no interest in stymieing our Parliament from meeting and Parliament will meet in the near feature to deal with all the situations that come before it.”
In recent times the House has been plagued by drama .Trotman had reason to call the Police on Friday last after going into his office in the Parliament building and not being able to locate the Mace.
He said in a statement, “On entering the Speaker’s Office I discovered that the Mace, the symbol of authority of the office of Speaker of the National Assembly, was removed from its usual place without my permission, knowledge or consent. The entire protective case in which the Mace is kept is also missing in its entirety”.
According to Trotman, from time immemorial, the Mace is kept in the Speaker’s office and is only removed by the Sergeant-at-Arms for use during sittings or for temporary viewing by guests on tour of the National Assembly.
He said he was forced to call in the Police after staff members could not furnish him with a reasonable response.
Isaacs then sent out a statement saying that “the Parliamentary Mace has not been stolen as was reported. The Mace was taken to the Clerk’s Office for cleaning, as is customary, and also for a new housing box to be made out of prospect.
It will remain in the Clerk’s Office over the weekend and then returned to the Speaker’s Office on Monday, 3rd November, 2014.”
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Apr 19, 2024
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