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Parliamentary absenteeism will not be tolerated – WIN MPs
(Kaieteur News) – Opposition Members of Parliament (MP) are preparing to deploy a dual-track strategy of local media scrutiny and international diplomatic pressure to combat what they characterise as persistent, deliberate government absenteeism.
The move, spearheaded by We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) MPs Vishnu Panday and Odessa Primus, aims to break a long-standing gridlock paralysing crucial parliamentary oversight bodies, most notably the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Foreign Relations Committee.
Chairman of the PAC, Vishnu Panday
For over two years, opposition figures have accused government members of weaponising quorum requirements by failing to show up, effectively stalling the scrutiny of state spending and foreign affairs.
Panday, recently elected as the new Chairman of the PAC, has declared that tackling government attendance is his absolute first order of business. The stakes are high; a massive backlog of Auditor General reports currently sits un-reviewed, leaving billions in public expenditures without legislative oversight.
“One of the corrective measures is that I will have very actively the media involvement,” Panday stated in an invited comment to Kaieteur News, emphasising that public exposure is now the opposition’s primary domestic weapon. “The media has an important role in terms of having these issues to be fully ventilated and fully highlighted. I fully believe that that’s one of the ways we can get improvement.”
Panday announced that he will officially log member attendance at the PAC’s very first meeting, expected to be called next week. Should government representatives continue to miss scheduled sessions, the opposition plans to take the attendance data directly to the public through regular press briefings.
The frustration is rooted in recent history. In August 2024, former PAC Chairman and former APNU MP Jermaine Figueira penned a public letter revealing that over 40 PAC meetings had been cancelled solely because government members failed to show up, preventing the committee from reaching a quorum.
Meanwhile, WIN’s MP Odessa Primus who was recently elected to serve as Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee said that the opposition parties are strictly unified on critical national issues and are coordinating a collaborative agenda. Plans are underway to convene a strategy session next week that will include Forward Guyana Movement’s (FGM) leader Amanza Walton to provide guidance based on her experience.
Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee, Odessa Primus
“In my estimation, two things readily come to mind in terms of important issues that need to be addressed, and that is the Venezuela-Guyana issue and a solid migration policy,” Primus said in an invited comment to Kaieteur News. She warned that the country’s current framework is entirely inadequate to handle shifting regional dynamics. “I just think we’re a little wild in very many respects as it relates to migration, particularly with persons coming into Guyana, and how that works in terms of them getting their citizenship and all these sorts of things.”
Characterising the legislative gap as an emergency, Primus stressed that the regulatory framework must be overhauled immediately. “That needs to be changed urgently,” she stated. “I believe that putting policies in place to regulate these sorts of things is quite necessary at this juncture. It was necessary before we got to this juncture, but it’s even more necessary now.”
The opposition MPs emphasise they are fully prepared for a prolonged political battle to enforce parliamentary accountability.
“Nothing is going to be easy or a smooth run, as they [the government] are hell-bent on being difficult and not necessarily putting the best interest of the people first,” Primus said. “And if it has to be a fight, that’s what it has to be.”
To counter executive resistance and quorum manipulation, the opposition’s strategy will rely on bypassing internal parliamentary roadblocks by taking the gridlock directly to domestic and international platforms. Beyond local media campaigns, opposition MPs are now prepared to look across borders to force compliance. If localised transparency measures and public shaming fail to incentivise consistent government participation, the opposition plans to formally engage international democratic watchdogs and foreign diplomatic missions stationed in Georgetown.
“If it is that we have to write letters to protest, to put information out in the media so people could know what the government is failing to do, if we need to engage the international community to lend their support in any defiance, any pushback, any setback, any unwillingness to do something, then that’s what we are going to have to do,” Primus warned. “I’m very much prepared to go there as it relates to the parliament, to politics.”
By presenting documented logs of parliamentary absenteeism to international partners, the opposition aims to highlight what they describe as a manufactured legislative gridlock designed to shield the executive branch from financial and political accountability. This pivot to international channels marks a significant escalation in strategy. Opposition leadership emphasises that the oversight of national finances and foreign policy is too critical to the country’s stability to be derailed by partisan maneuvering, signaling that if the government will not face its colleagues in parliament, it will have to answer to the court of public and international opinion.
Recognising her own transition into high-stakes legislative oversight, Primus indicated she is actively seeking external expertise from across the political spectrum, and from the diaspora, to ensure the committee functions effectively.
“I am new in terms of being involved at this magnitude. It’s a learning experience,” Primus noted.
“Whether it is Amanza, whether it is Carl Greenidge, whether it is whomever, I am at a place where I am willing to engage anybody with the necessary expertise and willingness to help to ensure that the job is done effectively. This is not about me; this is for the people of Guyana. This is much bigger than me,” the parliamentarian said.
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WHO EVER IS PLAYING THE ABSENTEEISM GAME-
need to be DOCKED for EVERY DAY THEY ARE ABSENT.
They have a Government job to perform,
Therefore, they lose a day’s pay on their monthly salary, or wages with
every absence.