The Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have reacted sharply to President Donald Ramotar’s assertion that the Opposition had no place in the crafting of the National Budget and should be involved in consultations only.
Ramotar at a press conference on Friday said that opposition involvement in crafting the national budget will not go beyond consultations and insisted that it is his administration’s exclusive responsibility.
“I have offered them [APNU and AFC] consultations. They both agreed that they would send their persons to the Ministry of Finance to consult with [Minister of Finance Dr Ashni] Singh. As far as I am aware they have not done so but I have no intention of abdicating the responsibility of the government. This [budget] is government’s responsibility not Mr [David] Granger’s,” Ramotar told reporters at the Office of the President.
Speaking to this newspaper, Vice Chairman of APNU Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine said that it is a pity that the President took the position that he did with regards to the Opposition’s role in the preparation of the National Budget.
He said that he would have expected a more constructive attitude from the President with a view to seeking the collaboration of Opposition parties. “He seems to be stuck in the era of one party executive rule mode,” said Roopnaraine of the President.
Furthermore, Dr. Roopnaraine said that the PPP should wake up to the reality that the habits of the last Parliament will not work. “They must contend with the fact that they don’t control the National Assembly,” he said.
“With the Parliament that we have working with the Executive is possible,” he said, but added that the Government has to approach the Opposition in a serious way for this to happen.
Speaking to the issue, AFC Executive Member Cathy Hughes said that it is unfortunate that the person “who has the privilege and responsibility of being President of all of Guyana finds it possible to limit the interest of 52 percent of the electorate to mere consultation.”
Further, on Ramotar’s criticism of the AFC and APNU for their coming together on the Speaker, Hughes said at all material times since the commencement of tripartite discussions “President Ramotar made clear the non-negotiable position of the People’s Progressive Party with regard to possible candidates for the Speaker.”
She said that with this display of such inflexibility the only remaining option “was to embark upon bilateral discussions between the remaining members of the tripartite arrangement.”
She said that even after the election of the Speaker, “the PPP failed or refused to nominate anyone for the position of Deputy Speaker, thereby confirming the AFC’s suspicion that the PPP was interested in Speaker or nothing.”
“The Alliance For Change hopes that President Ramotar will sometime in the immediate future graciously accept the selection, remembering that this new dispensation reflects the will of the Guyanese people and that at this time what is needed is a tripartite commitment to improving the lives of all Guyanese citizens,” she said.
In a statement after the election of Raphael Trotman as Speaker of the National Assembly last Thursday, President Ramotar scathingly criticized the Opposition for what he referred to as going against the convention in parliamentary democracies, where the governing party with the largest number of votes and seats secures the Speakership. He called the actions of the AFC and APNU a gross violation of an established convention which is not a healthy development “in this new dispensation.”
In reacting to these statements, Hughes said that the President was comparing apples to oranges, since his reference to convention pertains only to classic Westminster parliaments. “However the Guyana constitution with the Executive President located outside the Parliament is unknown within the Commonwealth and thus references to convention are not applicable,” Hughes said.
The President at Friday’s press conference said that because of what he referred to as “bad faith” on the part of the Opposition with regard to the tripartite talks, an unconducive environment has been created for the continuation of those talks. But Hughes thought differently.
“The Alliance For Change does not share the President’s assessment that the health of the tripartite arrangement has been adversely impacted upon by the election of the Speaker by the majority of the members of the house. This situation has its genesis in the refusal of the PPP to identify any other candidate for speaker,” she said.
