APNU reneged on agreement in Parliament over Manickchand - says PPP

APNU reneged on agreement in Parliament over Manickchand – says PPP

Apr 08, 2014 News

The People’s Progressive Party, through its General Secretary (GS) Clement Rohee, has said that A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) reneged on an agreement in Parliament with respect to the ban that was issued and subsequently lifted on Minister of Education Pryia Manickchand.

GS of the PPP
Clement Rohee

Rohee made this observation after APNU decided to drown out her speech during last Friday’s sitting of the House.
He explained that the commotion was caused because the Minister of Education was “misquoted and misinterpreted”. Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, had threatened to stop the Minister from speaking.
According to Rohee there was a meeting featuring the Chief Whips from APNU (Amna Ally) and PPP (Gail Teixeira) and Joseph Harmon, in the presence of the Speaker.
“All sides were heard and there was agreement that the Minister would make a statement that she did not refer to Member of Parliament Jaipaul Sharma. The Speaker would then allow her to make her 2014 budget debate contribution.”
Rohee then said that when called upon Friday to speak the “Peoples National Congress [PNC] led APNU began an unexpected banging and shouting to prevent the Minister from “exercising her democratic right to speak and represent 200,000 children who are in our schools today.”
Rohee said that the actions of APNU which effectively stopped the Minister from speaking are “just part of PNC bullying behavior to silence people without rhyme or reason and part of the disrespect for law and order and principles.”
This behaviour is what the PPP has been calling the “tyranny of the one-seat majority which the opposition has in the House” according to Rohee. He said that earlier in the tenth Parliament APNU employed a motion to gag him.
Rohee said that the “ear shattering banging on the tables and the shouting down of the Minister reminded us of the PNC behaviour in the past when the party was in office.
They used any and every means to shut up and silence those who did not share their view.
The PPP is of the view that APNU’s action last Friday “was a manifestation of their true colours, that being unprincipled and untrusting.” He said that after the agreement was reached by the parties concerned on Wednesday and the PPP Minister did her part, the APNU reneged on their agreement.
“The same thing happened in 2012 when the APNU was in agreement with a phased increase in Linden electricity rates only to renege on that during the sitting of the National Assembly.”
He said that APNU’s display was not only to prevent the Minister from speaking but “also could be considered a breach of the trust, which honourable people uphold and should uphold.”
Rohee said his party understands that under a pre-electoral agreement, APNU had promised the Justice for All Party (JFAP) one of the Parliamentary seats were they to win seats in the Parliament.
“It is interesting to note that a PNC member will now be filling that seat which should been given to the JFA party.”
He said that this is another example of the “lack of principle and trust which APNU fails to fulfill”. He added that the Speaker “must exercise control over the National Assembly and protect the Minister of Education from further abuse and denial of her right to speak in the National Assembly.”
Rohee was asked about what was stopping Minister Manickchand from apologizing and moving on with the work of the National Assembly. APNU Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon had done a similar heckle during a presentation by Public Works Minister Robeson Benn citing his relative being fingered in rape allegations.
The House asked her to apologize and she did so.
Rohee said that he did not hear Vanessa Kissoon’s comments so he was not capable of making a comparative analysis of the two incidents.