Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 15, 2014 News
Opposition Leader, David Granger said that the “same jumbie, the No-Confidence Motion,” that President Donald Ramotar
is running away from, will be there to greet him in the National Assembly, when it reconvenes before or after the six-month suspension.
At his press conference which was held at his Hadfield Street Headquarters, yesterday, Granger said that the President must face his “jumbie.”
The Opposition Leader said that APNU remains committed to supporting the seemingly dreaded No-Confidence motion. He said that the President cannot expect that the unprecedented motion would simply disappear into thin air with the prorogation of the Parliament.
He said, “You can’t escape the fact that there has been ministerial and governmental lawlessness…They will not be wished away by proroguing the Parliament.
“He is going to face the same reality and when it comes; we will do what we have to do…What he did has intensified or concretized the views that the government is not concerned about democracy and is unfit to remain in office.”
APNU Leader also called on the entire nation to resist the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) imposition of a one-party dictatorship in Guyana.
He said that the President’s decision has only served to paralyze the parliamentary process by affecting formal sittings of the National Assembly.
Granger said that the President’s proclamation stifled the voices of the people’s legitimate representatives in the National Assembly. The ‘proclamation’ he said, also extinguished the expectations of the Guyanese people who he said three years ago in November 2011, voted for APNU and the Alliance for Change (AFC) to have the majority of seats in the House.
He also refuted allegations that that dialogue between the Opposition and the Government had been discontinued, thereby provoking the extreme measure of prorogation.
Granger reminded that the last meeting between an APNU team and a PPPC team led by President Donald Ramotar was on October 20.
The Opposition leader then accused President Ramotar of “single-handedly and single-mindedly” engineering a constitutional crisis in order to promote the PPP/C’s partisan political programme at the expense of dealing with pressing national matters.
He said that the main purposes of the six-month suspension are to allow the PPP/C to establish a ‘de facto,’ one-party dictatorship, to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and to evade its responsibility to the people.
Granger said that President Ramotar has presented a constitutional pretext to obstruct debate on the Opposition’s No-Confidence Motion; postpone the holding of Local Government Elections, prevent debate on financial excesses and impropriety, protect delinquent Ministers from parliamentary sanction; permit the PPP’s campaign for General and Regional Elections to proceed; and provide for the continued expenditure of state funds without parliamentary scrutiny.
He then called on civil society, non-governmental and professional organizations, political parties, religious and social groups and even trade unions – to resist the President’s objectionable and obnoxious decision to prorogue the parliament. He said that the President has no grounds for this assault on parliamentary independence.
He also called on the citizenry to join in a civil movement for the restoration of parliamentary democracy by peacefully resisting the PPP/C’s resort to dictatorship.
In supporting Granger’s position, his Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, said APNU’s confidence in the government has evaporated over the years.
The provision for the No-Confidence Motion, he said, was inserted into the Constitution to protect the people, and reduce the powers of the Executive if it is found to be abusing its powers.
As it relates to government’s call for dialogue during this period of suspension, Dr. Roopnaraine said that he found this to be insincere and illogical as the government has removed the institution for allowing such to take place.
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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