Lewdness and lack of diplomacy characterize the sitting of our National Assembly these days

Apr 17, 2022 News

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By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – The first time I visited Guyana’s National Assembly, I was an 11-year-old student on a school tour. On that occasion, I got a chance to sit in the Minister of Education chair and each of us on the tour took turns to sit in the Speaker of the National Assembly chair. It was an honour to be able to visit the National Assembly – where the political leaders of our land pass legislation and make amendments in the best interest of the nation.

Today, I am writing as a 20-year-old reporter attached to the Kaieteur News who was given the opportunity to revisit the National Assembly as an assignment.
Since becoming a reporter a few years ago, I always wanted the opportunity to attend Parliament to see Guyana’s politicians ‘live and direct’ rather than merely seeing them in action when clips of sittings are aired on television or shared via the internet.
On Wednesday last, I attended the National Assembly for the second time since I started my career as a reporter, and it is that experience, as well as my first, I intend to chronicle for you today.
Even though I took notes on who said what, in this article, I will refrain from naming any Member of Parliament (MP).
To sum my experience up before I elaborate, I can safely say that my experience at Parliament as a reporter did not meet my expectations? Rather, it was far from what I had expected. From what I observed, some MPs showed little to no respect to the House.
The first time I attended the National Assembly as a reporter it was earlier this year, leading up to the debates of Guyana’s 2022 budget, $552.9B, the largest ever.
During the budget debates some of the MPs used their time to talk about what the opposing party did, rather than stay on track with what they were presenting. Sadly, I have observed school children with better contributions to their school’s debates than what some MPs had to offer.
Some presentations were so distasteful that many times I was worried I would not be able to capture their presentations in a wholesome article for the newspaper.
In addition to recording digitally, what I did as a reporter was to write the name of each MP that took the floor and listed the issues along with some key points mentioned which I believed would make my article an interesting read.
However, while I was there, for most MPs the only thing I was able to write was their names. This, understandably, caused me to shake my head in disbelief. It was hard for me to comprehend how some of these individuals were chosen for the noble task of representing the nation. Instead of focusing on the business of the nation, at times they were engaged in childish banter and disrespectful exchanges which, in my opinion, had no business being uttered in such a setting.
Needless to say, there was no diplomacy in heckling. In fact, some MPs would mention other MPs personal life stories in an effort to embarrass them. I even observed two MPs throwing hints at each other’s sexuality.
I tried my best to give a deaf ear to the constant mud-slinging but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t. Every insult, every disparaging accusation made – and believe me, there were many – this young reporter had to endure in the name of journalism.
Since when degrading someone’s partner, education, child, sexuality or family is acceptable in any sitting of a National Assembly? Is this the way our leaders are hoping to achieve “One Guyana”?
What I observed was the government MPs mainly highlighting all the bad the Opposition side did and then the Opposition MPs took their turn to do the same. The annoying squabble caused me to silently ask myself: Who really is working in the best interest of the people?
Notably, while there were MPs making a spectacle of themselves by engaging in nonsensical heckling, there were others who refrained from engaging in such, and those, I must admit, I admired.
After that first experience, I had sworn that I would never set foot back into the National Assembly.
However, my Editor advised that instead of staying away, I simply had to do my job by detailing my experience.
Accompanied by a colleague, I ventured to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre for another sitting of the National Assembly last week, it was Wednesday, April 13, 2022 to be exact. The highlight of my second experience was listening to Government and Opposition MPs argue, at high decibels, ‘who stole the most money’.
Yes, this reporter had to endure hearing Government and Opposition members, in the National Assembly, debating who stole the most MONEY, complete with the pointing of accusing fingers to each other.
Despite being daunted by the loud exchanges, the reporter in me took note of the projects mentioned in which money was allegedly stolen. I intend to follow these so I can inform the nation whether they received value for money or not.
I had also intended to get some information about an oil production issue that this newspaper has been following diligently – The US$9B Payara audit.
Due to the importance of this issue, I initially reached out to the relevant MP in February, 2022. However, since then my questions to that MP have been unanswered, although I was assured an update would be forthcoming. I had hoped to have a face-to-face interview with that MP on Wednesday last.
However, during the breaks of the sitting I spent hours trying to locate the MP but he was nowhere to be seen. Coincidentally, when I went back into the dome the MP walked in shortly after through another entrance.
At another break, I waited outside the door where I saw the MP had exited previously but he never came out. As such, my colleague went into the dome and asked him if he could facilitate a quick interview with Kaieteur News. He promised to avail himself the following day for an interview but he never did. But I am not disheartened because I have come to the realisation that sometimes getting the hard facts often requires patience and diligence and I am daily learning to embrace these traits.
But back to the heckling.
“He ain’t in he grave yet?” was asked by a MP who, at the time, was referring to a former government official who was present at the last sitting. As the heckling continued MPs asked sometimes unrelated questions like: “What about Pradoville? You ain’t talking that?”, “How much fuh a gun licence?” and one even had the audacity to say to another, “You is a baboon…”
There were threats of “We gon bully you now…” and commands to “Shut up, you like disrespect women” and “You don’t talk, you does steal vehicles.”
These utterances and many more of a disparraing nature constituted my second attendance of a sitting of Parliament as a reporter – an event which is described as a formal conference for the discussion of public affairs where laws are passed and national decisions are made.
What I observed, dear reader, was a total mockery and disrespect to the nation laced with some valuable presentations.

 

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