PPP objects to Speaker’s continuous intrusion in Budget debate

Feb 10, 2016 News

The political opposition yesterday registered its objection to House Speaker, Dr. Barton Scotland’s continuous

Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira

intervention into the arena of the budget 2016 debates in the National Assembly.
Speaking to members of the media, Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira said that the latest intrusion from the Speaker came when one of its members, Allister Charlie, in his speech, objected to the painting of State, Government and public properties in the colours of green and/or yellow.
Teixeira recalled that when Charlie made these remarks, the Speaker intervened to point out that yellow and green are “the colours of our National Flag” and cannot be lampooned in the House.
The politician had risen to Charlie’s defence when the Speaker made this point, but her points were not acknowledged.
During the press briefing, Teixeira said that “it is extremely difficult to accept that the Honourable Speaker did not grasp the gravamen of the objection of the PPP Member”.
She said, “The PPP/C wishes to remind all that Members of Parliament speak on behalf of the people of Guyana who are themselves not in Parliament. People of Guyana have expressed their concern about what appears to be creeping party paramountcy.”
The Opposition Chief Whip continued, “Their suspicions may well lie in the ugly history of our country, and they may be attempting to prevent a return to what is recorded in Father Morrison’s “Justice: The Struggle for Democracy in Guyana 1952-1992. “ “…. The party became inseparably identified with the Government, over which it exercised control and direction of its every institution. Symbolic of this paramountcy of the party was the flying of the Party flag over the Guyana Court of Appeal, in spite of vigorous protests of the opposition parties.”