The opposition can call for the re-convening of parliament any time

Oct 31, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have now consulted the main source which Parliamentary clerk Isaacs quoted in his letter seeking to rationalise his position not to reconvene parliament. The main person whose opinion he quoted advised me that Isaacs is quoting him out of context. His response to me was clear; his opinion was given at a time when the government in power [the executive] were in control of the majority of the seats in the house.
The situation is different now, with the opposition having the majority of the seats in the10th parliament and that fact changes the entire ball-game; they can call for the re-convening of parliament any time after the recess, since they represent the majority of the people in this country.
I have it on good advice that if the 33 members of parliament of both the APNU and the AFC [representing, as they do, the majority of the people in this country] meet in some hall anywhere in Guyana and unanimously call for and sign to :
1. A no confidence vote against the government;
2. Demand that some sort of interim government be established until elections can be held on a date to be decided;
3. That Isaacs immediately be removed as clerk of the national assembly for acting outside his authority thereby interfering with national business, since nowhere in standing orders eight does it confer any power on the sitting of the Assembly to be exercised by the Clerk, since even if he firmly believes what he is doing is right, no credible person will believe him, especially since he is either, deliberately or not, misinterpreting the information at his disposal. The Clerk is appointed by the President under Article 57 of the Constitution and the Clerk shall be removed from office by the President on a majority vote of the elected members of the Assembly. So the president can’t ignore their majority vote to remove Isaacs. We are just giving Isaacs what he wants anyway, since he attempted to resign since September 2013.
4.Ask the GDF to restore and defend the constitution and support the will of the majority of the people who are speaking through their parliamentarians, which represents 51% of the voters at the 2011 election;
5? As they are at it, they may as well call for the immediate resignation of Nandlall for the record, since no confidence against the Ramoutar Government will not put Nandlall on the spot to answer for his actions when the PPP are asked to demit office.
Isaacs writing to other Caribbean countries concerning the interpretation of the standing orders is essentially a waste of time, since none of them have ever had a situation where a minority party in a national election were allowed to form a government without a collation or the support of a minority party which gave them control of parliament. A definitive legal position cannot be found in that avenue, already we see Trinidad saying no and Jamaica saying yes. It’s a complete waste of time. Sooner than later they are going to have to convene parliament to pass the budget, and I would be shocked if the combined opposition allowed it.
Under no circumstances, given our understanding of how this PPP government operates and the criminality they are capable of, should any massive street demonstrations be contemplated. The PPP are capable of causing injury to their own supporters to alienate the opposition from the electorate. I don’t think that anyone can doubt that now. We must raise our voices as loudly as we can, but not our hands.
The international community cannot sit idly by and watch what could be the beginning of a military coup and say nothing!
I have to say it again, evil triumphs when good men do nothing! And there is no question now that we are dealing with evil.
Tony Vieira

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The opposition can call for the re-convening of parliament any time

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