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Ramjattan fires back… No value for money when Opposition MPs ‘cuss down’
Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan
Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, has fired back at the political opposition which recently criticized the Government for calling a sitting of the House on Thursday to deal with just a few matters that were not urgent.
The Opposition was contending that the Government could have waited until it had more on its legislative agenda. Members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) indicated that since the Government failed to exercise good judgment , the Thursday sitting of the House boiled down to a waste of taxpayers’ money.
It was emphasized that each sitting costs about $1M and that taxpayers certainly aren’t paying for their leaders to just deal with three to four issues within 45 minutes and “cut and run.” The political opposition emphasized that this is not value for money.
Specifically, Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira told the media that that sitting of the House was just “an absurdity.”
But Ramjattan found it ridiculous that the PPP sought to criticize the coalition Government for the sitting only lasting about 45 minutes.
Ramjattan told Kaieteur News that he is surprised that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic actually has the audacity to condemn the Government for having a sitting of the National Assembly to address two and three issues when it is guilty of the same.
“When they have Opposition Day, it is basically the same thing they do so I don’t know what they talking about,” he retorted.
More importantly, the Member of Parliament said that the Opposition, particularly its Chief Whip , Gail Teixeira, should be aware of the fact that when PPP members behave in an unparliamentarily manner, that in itself can be characterized as cheating the nation.
Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira
He said, “Teixeira and I have two different interpretations when it comes to value for money. She is saying that taxpayers are not getting value for money when we just bring three and four items at one sitting.
“Well, I don’t agree with that nonsense. I guess she does not know that it is not value for money when the opposition comes to every sitting with their disgusting, cuss down politics and go on bad for all to see.
“I guess she doesn’t know that taxpayers are not paying their money to see her disrespect the House Speaker constantly.”
The Minister of Public Security said that the Opposition should be the last to even speak about value for money considering its horrible past.
Ramjattan emphasized that Government has a right to bring its legislative agenda to the House, whether that has to do with two or three matters at one sitting. He insists that the National Assembly is also called for various democratic reasons.
The politician said that the Opposition’s absurd comments will not prevent the Government from doing what is democratic.
Teixeira had said, “The sitting was less than one hour and really no sitting should have been held because there was nothing on the agenda basically.”
She continued, “Furthermore, I did think that maybe they were calling the sitting because they wanted to bring Bills and motions in, but there is nothing that they brought really. It seems as if Government’s legislative agenda is extraordinarily thin and almost nonexistent.”
The Member of Parliament also expressed that she was shocked to learn that the next sitting of the House would be until May 4, which is on the eve of Arrival Day, a national holiday.
“Again, one wonders what it is with this Government. Doesn’t it have any agenda?” Teixeira asked.
The Opposition Chief Whip also noted that the move to have the next sitting in May, would suggest that Government’s Members of Parliament are doing a lot of travelling in April.
She added, “But I think the Guyanese should be asking, what the devil is this Government really bringing into this Parliament?”
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