Shuman petitions Clerk for Budgetary allowances for opposition MPs

Sep 26, 2021 News

…calls lack of funding a betrayal of the spirit of the Constitution

Kaieteur News – Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and current holder of the lone joinder seat in the National Assembly, Lenox Shuman—leader of the Liberty and Justice Party—has written to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, requesting that budgetary funds be made available for each member of the political opposition, in order for them to be able to effectively execute their mandate as elected representatives.

Deputy Speaker and LJP Leader, Lenox Shuman

Shuman in a letter to the Clerk, on Friday last, iterated that the lack of budgetary allocation to each parliamentarian to equally represent their constituents “can be viewed as a betrayal and possibly a violation of the spirit of the Constitution.”
As such, Shuman requested that, “provisions are made in Budget 2022 for each parliamentarian to be given resources, to permit them the rental of office space and the hiring of at least one assistant to address their constituent’s needs.”
Qualifying his arguments made to the Clerk, the LJP Leader observed that, “democracies thrive based on the ability of their elected officials to represent their constituents.”
Such representation, he said, “is driven by resources and capacity of which one drives the other. It therefore stands to reason that where a representative is resource poor, the capacity to represent the peoples’ interest now becomes poor and thus weakens a democracy. The converse is also generally true.”
To this end, he argues, governments are only as good as their opposition and as such “one can comfortably suggest that by such virtue, a weak opposition makes for a weak government and government institutions.”

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs

According to Shuman, “while a government can enjoy un-tethered access to the public’s purse, the opposition members are left to languish even though they are equally elected to represent the people, as dictated by Article 9 and further supported by Article 13 of the Constitution of Guyana.”
He recalled, in his missive to the Clerk, “…we fought for the respect of democracy in 2020 and would view this as strengthening and supporting democracy in Guyana. Were it to not be addressed, the perception would be that the government’s intent is not to strengthen our democracy, but instead to entrench hegemony.”
Cognisant of the preparation time for budget submissions ahead of Budget 2022 and that agencies are actively engaged in preparation of same, “your consideration on this important democratic matter is most appreciated.”

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