President blazes opposition over Trotman’s election as Speaker

Jan 13, 2012 News

-says opportunity squandered for new era of cooperation

The election of leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman, as Speaker of the House, has been

President Donald Ramotar

slammed by government with President Donald Ramotar saying that the opposition has committed a gross violation of established convention.
“Today’s occurrence in the National Assembly is disappointing as the APNU/AFC opposition squandered an excellent opportunity for us to usher in an era of enhanced political cooperation and consensus.”
As President, Ramotar said that he had hoped that the elections of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the National Assembly would have resulted from genuine dialogue rather than the “product of some pre-arranged deal between the two opposition parties.”
“The APNU/AFC collaboration today also goes against the convention in parliamentary democracies where the Governing Party with the largest number of votes and seats secures the Speaker of the National Assembly. This gross violation of an established convention is not a healthy development in this new dispensation.”
In a last ditch attempt to hammer out a deal, the President said that he took the initiative of contacting the Leader of APNU, David Granger, yesterday, reminding him of the convention.
However, a proposition by President to have the opposition retain the Deputy Speaker position was rejected.
“It must be recalled that when the PPP/C had an outright majority over the combined opposition, we were magnanimous by allowing the Opposition to hold the position of Deputy Speaker, based on our respect for parliamentary democracy. As President of the Republic, I intend to monitor the situation in the National Assembly very closely.”
Earlier, Presidential Advisor, Gail Teixeira, described Trotman’s election as Speaker of the House as a “charade” played out by the opposition.
She said that the President had initiated talks for the Tripartite Committee on the way forward, but no meetings were held after December 19th, despite attempts by her party.