Opposition boycotts Parliament, holds protest

Oct 11, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – The Opposition on Thursday boycotted Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly and held a protest outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown as President Irfaan Ali delivered a three and a half-hour speech at the venue.

The protest was led by Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton who said the protest was aimed at sending a strong signal to the President that the Opposition is dissatisfied with the government’s handling of matters of national importance.

Norton, who was flanked by several Members of Parliament (MPs), reminded that many citizens continue to live in poverty despite the country’s wealth and that the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has failed to remedy the situation.

“Our public demonstration is intended to re-emphasize that Guyana remains in crisis: a crisis in parliamentary democracy; a crisis in local government affairs; a crisis in political relations; a corruption crisis; a transparency and accountability crisis; a law enforcement crisis, and a crisis in terms of the high cost-of-living and poor quality of life experienced daily by most Guyanese citizens. Amidst oil wealth, a substantial percentage of the Guyanese people live in poverty,” Norton said.

He continued: “The, PPP is either blind and deaf; or indifferent and heartless; or incompetent and clueless; or arrogant and elitist; or all the above. We, in the Opposition, will not play along with the PPP’s deceptions and pretensions. We will not lose sight of the fact that the entire Guyanese population (in particular, the 50% and more who voted for us at the 2020 General and Regional Elections) continue to look to us to represent their concerns and interests…”

Aside from issues of economics, Norton said the government has ignored to address several policy matters.

“We have, for instance, looked to use the parliamentary mechanism to the fullest to raise and address critical issues affecting the ordinary people of Guyana…We have tabled a record number of motions and questions to Ministers. Unfortunately, for as long as the Speaker of the House remains a puppet of the government, and for as long as the government continues to undermine and stifle parliament, it will remain the sham that it is.”

The Leader of the Opposition said too that many Standing Committees of the National Assembly are yet to meet in relation to work, while pointing specifically to the National Security Committee.

Norton believes that “With the increase in criminal activities, corruption in the Police Force and other serious crimes; other committees such as the Committee of Appointments, the Foreign Services and Economic Services Committee” should be fully functional.

“All have outstanding and pending matters, yet the PPP government is willfully derailing the works of these Committees. In addition, the PPP regime has changed the rules governing the Public Accounts Committee in a way that their non-attendance prevents the Committee from meeting thus resulting in little or no parliamentary scrutiny of the public spending of the corrupt PPP government,” Norton explained.

Additionally, Norton spoke to what he described as failures in democracy and governance under the PPP regime. He highlighted the non-appointment of the acting Chancellor and Chief Justice despite him signaling his unequivocal support for their substantive appointments.

The appointment of Opposition representatives to State boards was also raised by the Opposition Leader who pointed out that the government has failed to ensure that the appointments are made despite representatives being identified.

Speaking on the rising cost-of-living, Norton said that the Opposition has made several proposals aimed at remedying the situation but all have been ignored by the government.

Among the suggestions proffered is a salary increase for all government employees, much higher than was previously imposed; increasing the tax-free threshold to $150,000 monthly so that more than 200,000 Guyanese workers in the public and private sectors have more disposable income and develop agriculture across the country to reduce the cost of food.

Additionally, Norton said he suggested that the government needs to provide large grants to help farmers purchase equipment to reduce the cost of food. The distribution of fuel vouchers to bring the cost of fuel down for farm to market transportation; the provision of two hot meals to students, to ease the high food costs their parents face and the establishment of a school transportation network to remove student transportation costs were also recommended.

(Opposition boycotts Parliament, holds protest)

 

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• citizenry, disapproval, Government, opposition, Parliament, protest

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