Salary payments should be stopped for all MPs; not just Opposition

Salary payments should be stopped for all MPs; not just Opposition – Edghill

Oct 02, 2019 News

Salary payments should be stopped for all Members of Parliament, not just the Opposition, Parliamentarian Juan Edghill said on Monday.

Opposition MP, Juan Edghill

He was, at the time, responding to a question posed by Kaieteur News about what the status of MPs should be, since the Opposition considers the National Assembly “dead”. After the Auditor General’s Report for the fiscal year 2018 was presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly at Parliament, Barton Scotland, yesterday, Edghill and fellow Parliamentarian, Nigel Dharamlall, approached reporters to comment on the status of Parliament.
“We will not allow the chance to get a copy of the report to force us back to Parliament. Our position is much more principled than that.” Edghill said
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had refused to return to the National Assembly. It was former Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, who declared with absolute certainty on September 20, 2019 that the National Assembly is dead.
Edgill was asked whether the PPP would reject their salaries in protest, and he noted that it’s the President’s job to effect the dissolution of Parliament.
“We have called on a principled position and we must continue to make that call that the President needs to dissolve the National Assembly.”
Edghill said that, at the time of the dissolution of the National Assembly, there are certain administrative things that need to be done, including the stopping of payment of non-Minister MPs.
Kaieteur News had discovered that Opposition MPs are still receiving their salaries. Hence, Edghill was asked whether the PPP would reject those payments in protest.
“It is not that MPs are collecting money under false pretense,” he responded.
“The President has not dissolved Parliament, which he should do. And we are calling for that dissolution. We are not hiding from dissolution. We are demanding dissolution.”
But there is a glaring blind spot in the Opposition’s demands.
Article 61 of the Constitution states: “An election of members of the National Assembly under Article 60 (2) shall be held on such day within three months after every dissolution of Parliament as the President shall appoint by proclamation.”
Simply put, if Parliament is dissolved today, General and Regional Elections would have to be held by or before January 2, 2020. Election Day, according to the President, is on March 2, 2020. So the earliest date on which Parliament can be constitutionally dissolved is December 2, 2020.
In its refusal to head to Parliament, pursuant to its protest of the APNU/AFC Coalition’s occupation of Government beyond March 21, 2019, the Opposition has missed several sittings. It has also indicated that it will not be attending the next one.
Parliament comes out of recess on October 10, 2019.