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Parliament must not be adjourned for so long

Mar 12, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Do Parliamentarian and the Speaker deserve a salary for April 2016? At its core, the “good life”, as promised, has a commitment to hard work and increase productivity as a roadmap to generating more wealth to improve the fortunes of all.  But the operations of the National Assembly over the years, including the PPP years, beg the question – who must do the hard work and for whose benefit?
Observing the last sitting of the National Assembly on March 10th, 2016, one was baffled that the motion of the House for the adjournment of the National Assembly until May 4th, 2016.  That translates to no sitting of the National Assembly for part of March 2016, all of April 2016 and a few days in May 2016; a gap of 56 days.  That is 56 days without a sitting of the full National Assembly which is supposed to be working harder and increase their productivity in light of the hefty salary increases all the Parliamentarians including the opposition, benefited from, before they have even proved themselves as able administrators.
This is grossly unacceptable especially when the economic reality of Guyana clearly points to a crisis of confidence around the growth rate, a policy paralysis when it comes to driving the transformation of the economy and the current lack of confidence in the system by the private sector.  If one tallies the situation at one of the penal facilities – Camp Street, it has a population that is more than 30 percent over its established limit.  Now this problem was created exclusively by the Rohee administration, I have no doubt about that, but the burden of the solution lies with the current government.  An easy win to help this crisis situation of over population in the prison system is an important private members bill being proposed by MP Michael Carrington called the “Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Control (Amendment) Bill 2015 – No 17 of 2015.
But yet the House has no time for this vital piece of legislation that offers a real opportunity at quick wins for the Government. The moral question that this Bill seeks to answer is whether as a nation, we are prepared to continue to incarcerate our youths for a “spliff” for periods between 3- 5 years. Even the Presidents of the United States, Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton had their “spliffs”, but rather than burying them in detention, their nation allowed them to test the “weed” by way of their youthful indiscretion.
Member of Parliament Carrington must be commended for the foresight of trying to offer a real, timely and appropriate solution of commuting the youths who get caught “doing a joint” to community services, rather than jail term.  But with such a tangible solution in their hands, why did the leadership of the National Assembly run for the hills.  This is nothing less than pure and absolute laziness on the part of the National Assembly.
The action of the House goes against the grain of the public utterance of His Excellency President Granger who made it clear in a previous public discourse that “young people should be in school, not in jail. How should the Guyanese public read into this purposeful parliamentary sabbatical for 56 days?  Is it only sugar workers, rice farmers, nurses, public servants and all other categories of workers expected to contribute to the good life? Where are the deliverables from the new government of Guyana?
Where is the social justice?  It is high time that Guyana’s political elite, adopt a more unrestricted vision so that we once again understand the pain of the working class so that more of our youths, especially our African youths can be afforded a real chance at a decent life outside of jail.  The National Assembly must meet in April 2016 to consider the “Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Control (Amendment) Bill 2015 – No 17 of 2015.
Sean Douglas

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