Speaker’s ruling on Rohee gag will be respected

Feb 27, 2013 News

– AFC

The AFC’s leadership says they will respect the final ruling from Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman to halt the impasse which the earlier “gag-Rohee” ruling had created in the National Assembly and in the High Court.
A statement issued by the party yesterday reminded that the instance which occasioned the entire episode was when the House passed a no-confidence motion against Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee for his” “incompetence and outright mal-administering of the affairs of the security sector”.
The party explained that under Rohee’s stewardship innocent lives were lost in Linden when citizens were merely exercising their constitutional right to protest harsh economic conditions.
Under the Constitution, Ministers are accountable to the National Assembly and a no-confidence motion can be brought against any such culpable Minister. This is a central aspect of democratic government and a significant aspect of the doctrine of separation of powers.
“In accordance with the constitutional convention of individual Ministerial responsibility, which never died when we were accorded a written constitutional status, it was imperative that Minister Rohee voluntarily resign, or either be dismissed or re-assigned by the President. This did not happen. And, as has turned out to be so controversial and divisive, the House then proceeded to gag the Minister in his capacity as a Minister. It was not as if the AFC did not know it was venturing into new frontiers. But it will do so again in its quest to ensure accountable government and good governance.”
It was further noted by the party that the support of application of sanction to Minister Rohee – who did not have the confidence of the National Assembly – was because the AFC wanted to protect the integrity, the efficacy and the internal organization of the House.
“The AFC’s purpose was to assure all Guyanese that it will not sit idly by and see that the National Assembly’s commands are just meaningless and will not be adhered to. Such would have a disastrous effect on the premiere institution of the land; it would mean that it is impotent.
“The AFC is therefore proud to have supported such a censure motion, historic and unprecedented as it was, to reign in an unruly Minister. This “Rohee debacle” is but only one item in a whole host of excesses being committed by the PPP Government, which excesses cumulatively can lead to a very serious constitutional crisis.”
Adding that the PPP Government resisted the application of sound constitutional doctrine, the AFC stated that the constitutional conventions are binding on political actors because there can be sanctions following their violations, sanctions which have a political liability even if bereft of any legal liability. Such conventions are important because they provide a moral framework within which the Executive and individual Ministers should exercise non-justifiable legal powers.
The AFC continued: “We in the AFC will be that Party which will ensure the re-emergence of a strict commitment to and compliance with constitutional and conventional principles, provisions, and proprieties which will establish us as a democratic nation. There has been a massive backsliding by this Government recently, away from a democratic order. This is dangerous, very dangerous.
We wish to warn that it will turn out to be a hoax on the public and the nation that their problems can be solved by deliberation in the National Assembly when their duly elected representatives, unanimously or by majority, cannot hold accountable and responsible the excesses of the Executive and its Ministers. So now as we go into our National Assembly and will hear Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, the AFC members of the National Assembly will reserve the right to co-operate, or not to, with this Minister. With him at the helm of our security, we fear that Guyanese will have to cower behind their grilled homes as a consequence; and, may even have to pay with their lives as so many Guyanese have already.”
The AFC stated that the party still believes that a major thrust for constitutional reform is necessary at this juncture of Guyana’s political history and it will start the discussion and consultation with the public and stakeholders as early as possible.

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Speaker’s ruling on Rohee gag will be respected

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