The 10th parliament is the worst, I wish I could resign

Sep 11, 2013 News

– Clerk of the National Assembly
By Abena Rockcliffe
“If I stay on any longer, I will die from a stress-driven stroke”.
There was more than a level of frustration when Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, made known his burning desire to divorce himself from the Tenth parliament and the “stress” it carries.

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs

Isaacs yesterday said that he had earlier sought approval from President Donald Ramotar to demit office and be paid full benefits. However, President Ramotar duly informed him that he, Isaacs, was needed in the National Assembly.
But Isaacs is once more seeking to justify quitting his job because, in his view, the Tenth parliament is the worst ever.
He told Kaieteur News that he has been working in the Public Service since 1972, and at Parliament since 1992. He assumed the position of Clerk in 2002.
“I never experienced so much frustration until this tenth parliament.”
Isaacs said that the frustration has been growing for quite awhile now. The President didn’t address the things that he identified as the source of his worry, he said. Yet he was sent back to work.
The Clerk said that he is simply just “sick’ of the confusion in the Tenth parliament.
What pushed him over the edge seems to be a letter that was sent to him by APNU leader, David Granger, addressing the status of the four Local Government Bills. The letter called on Isaacs to “release the Bills forthwith.”
An aggravated Isaacs told this publication, “I don’t think that he (Granger) has that authority over me.”
Granger also sent out a Press statement calling on Isaacs to fulfill his “constitutional obligations.”
Isaacs seemed to be particularly upset about Granger’s turn to the media. He contended that had Granger waited upon his response to the letter; the politician would have been adequately informed.
“Parliament is not equipped with a legal mind that could have adequately inserted the necessary amendments to the Bills”, Isaacs said.
“It won’t be proper to send ill-prepared Bills to the President to sign.”
According to the Clerk, it was in light of the aforementioned that he sent the Bills to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Cecil Dhurjon. Dhurjon is stationed at the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
Isaacs sought to make it clear that he didn’t just dump the Bills at the Ministry of Legal Affairs and not look back.
“I continuously checked and checked.”
The Clerk said that he was told by none other than the Minister of Legal Affairs himself, Anil Nandlall, that the Bills were receiving the attention of “his people.”
Isaacs said that he wished to state categorically that “until such time that a legal hand is appointed to handle the affairs of these complex Bills, I will continue to send them to the Ministry of Legal Affairs.”
He said that he takes his chances with the Bills coming from Private Members (Members of the Opposition) because, as he claimed, those are pretty straightforward. However, Isaacs was adamant that he cannot take chances with the contentious Bills.
The entire episode that unfolded yesterday – from Granger’s action to Isaacs reaction – stemmed from the fact that it has been more than a month since four Local government Bills necessary for the holding of elections were unanimously passed in the National Assembly.
Nineteen years after the last Local Government Elections were held in Guyana, the National Assembly, on August 7, approved a suite of legislation to pave the way for a fresh round of elections.
The House approved the Fiscal Transfers Bill, the Municipal and District Councils (Amendment) Bill, the Local Government (Amendment) Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill. This was after a 12-year period of attempting to reform the process. The Bills attracted some amount of “drama” in the National Assembly as the Government and the Opposition went head-to-head with differing opinions.
Yesterday, Isaacs, who only has four years before retirement, said that he thinks if he stays one more year he will suffer a stroke.
He said that all he wants is his benefits and he will be happy to sing farewell to the Parliament “because if I continue like this I will certainly drop.”
Isaacs and Speaker Raphael Trotman previously had problems that were ventilated in the media. But yesterday Isaacs accounted that he and Trotman now have an excellent working relationship.
“It is just the general situation that is frustrating.”