Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman says it was the need to have the public see the Members of Parliament working together on common issues that prompted him to suggest to the Government benches that the Opposition be involved in relief operations.
During the sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday, Trotman suggested to Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Ganga Persaud that it would be a good idea to include members of the Opposition benches along on visits to crises areas such as the Rupununi where Lethem was facing a flood crisis. Persaud had just concluded giving an update on the flood situation in Region Nine under the Order Paper item ‘Statement by Ministers’.
Speaking to this newspaper on Saturday, Trotman said that the intent of the suggestion is to show that there is unanimous support and concern for the plight of the people of Region Nine.
Trotman said that at the break during Thursday’s sitting, he invited Minister Ganga Persaud, Minister of Agriculture Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Leader of the Opposition David Granger, APNU Members of Parliament Sydney Allicock and Ronald Bulkan, and AFC Member of Parliament Valerie Garrido-Lowe in his chamber to discuss the issue further.
“People want to see us working together to bring relief to the plight of the people. There are too many images of us fighting each other. We need to demonstrate that together we can look at issues,” said Trotman. According to the Speaker, the Government MPs were amenable to the idea however Minister Ramsammy said he needs to take it back to President Donald Ramotar for approval.
“I hope that the Government side would take it further,” Trotman said. “The Opposition should be briefed about these situations and allowed to participate,” he said.
In a comment to Stabroek News, Granger said that it was a good principle by the Speaker and noted that it came on a day that the Opposition supported a Government motion on Guyana’s ratifying of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union.
“I certainly would like to commend the Speaker’s initiative of bringing the two sides closer together…I hope that [this collaboration] would continue for the years to come,” Granger said. He noted too that APNU’s shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs Deborah Backer had been invited for talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and cited this as an example of how the two sides could work together.
Government and the two Opposition parties had commenced tripartite talks some months ago after the elections.
However, these talks have been strained by a lack of action especially on the national budget. Further, the Government was unimpressed by the changing of the composition of the Committee of Selection to make it more weighted toward the Opposition, the voting against items of expenditure proposed on Financial Paper 7/2011, and the subsequent $21 billion budget cuts. However, despite the foregoing, the Government said it remained committed to the ongoing engagement with the Opposition.
