Latest update January 3rd, 2025 1:48 AM
‘We are worried that our voices will be muzzled in Parliament’ – Jagdeo
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo is of the view that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Barton
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
Scotland, has deviated from established parliamentary norms.
This view was expressed during a PPP press conference yesterday at Freedom House. The Opposition Leader spoke at length about the state of affairs within the walls of the country’s Public Buildings.
According to Jagdeo, the Speaker of the House seems to believe that he has to take his lead from the President, instead of being accountable to the stewardship of the National Assembly.
Jagdeo claims that both the Speaker and the APNU-AFC have been working to ultimately derail the legitimate expectations of parliamentary democracy.
Mr. Jagdeo gave several instances as examples of the current administration’s wrongs when it comes to the parliamentary norms and practices. He claims that when President David Granger refused to discuss the state of the rice industry within Parliament, the Speaker proceeded to deny the PPP’s motion to have the matter discussed.
However, he said that this was later allowed when the motion on the matter was re-tabled. Jagdeo also used as another example the failure to have Wales Estate closure debated in Parliament.
He reminded the members of the media that the House Speaker did not allow the discourse, giving as his reason that the Government had already pronounced on the issue. Jagdeo also claims that the Government has suspended the Standing Orders of the House too often only to have its way.
The former Head of State stated, “We have raised this (issue) with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association about the new norm of parliamentary matters in Guyana and how this APNU government sees parliamentary democracy…and we are worried now that our voices will be muzzled in Parliament”.
The former President also gave a further example to support his claim in the instance of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo going against the established norms of the House, by making a presentation after Opposition Member of Parliament, Irfaan Ali, debated at length on his motion regarding the future of the rice sector.
He commented that it is the norm that the last person to speak on a motion is the presenter of the motion, in that case Irfaan Ali. Jagdeo is of the belief that this departure from the norm was as an act of fear, even calling Nagamootoo a “coward”.
“It is this same fear that drives him (Nagamootoo) not to have to respect the convention at budget time where the Leader of the Opposition is the penultimate speaker.”
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You are worried about being muzzled? Really??? Are you forgetting your meeting at OP as president in 2007 when you muzzled Sam Hinds, Joseph O’Lall, GPL Ceo among others over the Petrocaribe fuel issue?