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PNCR protesters may have to wear masks soon -Norton

May 15, 2009 News

People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Executive Member, Aubrey Norton, says that the party is reviewing its militancy approaches given its little or no clout in the National Assembly in which the Government holds a 51 per cent majority and passes any Bill it chooses to.
Norton was speaking at the party’s weekly press briefing at Congress Place, Sophia.
Norton added that the party might even have to have its protesters wear masks so that there will not be a fear of being discriminated against.
He noted that the party has discovered a trend in that when people protest they are recorded and immediately after that, they are subjected to discriminatory actions by the powers that be.
“We have to come up with new strategies.”
Norton was responding to a question about the party’s lack of effective approach to blocking the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2009.
The party had argued during the debate, about the grave implications on the workers’ right to strike.
Norton drew reference to the Former Presidents (Benefits and Other Facilities) Bill. “We pushed an (advertisement) in the newspaper; we sensitised people about it…But how do you block a Bill when the government just needs a majority?”
He said that it may be possible if a person was talking about street protests. “But it is the people that have got to do that.”
When asked if it was not the role of the party as elected leaders to adequately sensitise the public, Norton said that the party did just that on its Nation Watch programme. “But a lot of people believe that the way to go is street protest, etc…All of those things demand people participation at a particular level.”
He said that while work is being done to address the situation, “the people out there suffer from the fear that the government has instilled in them.”
Given that that is the case, it is difficult to block a Bill in Parliament because of the 51 per cent, he added.
Norton emphasised that the government was consistently working on its repressive machinery to suppress any form of protest. “We are analyzing it and work continues to be done to deal with the government in some other way….What we are seeing in Guyana is a government that is repressive and authoritarian and hurtling towards a dictatorship.”
PNCR Shadow Legal Affairs Minister, Clarissa Riehl, who was also present at yesterday’s press conference, said that essentially, the trade unions should have been the body with a more militant voice given their roles. “I did not see any response from them.”
When the Bill was debated in the National Assembly PNCR Shadow Labour Minister, Basil Williams, had argued that the Bill seeks to undermine the workers’ and trade unions’ right to strike, and purports to parachute modern trends in a colonial archaic Act, given that the principal legislation was enacted in 1956.
“The Bill and the Principal Act is repressive and illiberal…The Bill can be used to terrorise workers…We must ensure that legislation passed reflects justice.” said Williams.

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