The Ministry of Housing and Water on Monday gave the People’s Parliament on Brickdam 72 hours to move.
The movement, launched on August 23, comprises people from all walks of life having discussions in tents near Parliament about the country’s future and what it wants Parliament to do. It has drawn up a petition and is to present a document to the National Assembly.
A letter from the Ministry to the group stated that it was operating in violation of the Town and Country Planning Act, Chapter 20:01 Laws of Guyana.
The letter added that the Central Housing and Planning Authority in pursuance of its powers was calling on the People’s Parliament to “remove all materials and belongings, belonging to the members of the Peoples Parliament at Brickdam & Avenue of the Republic, Stabroek within 72 hrs.”
In default, the members were warned that the CH&PA will enforce the provisions of the act.
The People’s Parliament this month launched a campaign to petition the National Assembly for the creation of a national living wage, the lowering of the VAT, and the holding of overdue local government polls, among other things.
The petition, “Towards the people’s agenda,” is to be presented to the National Assembly after it reconvenes next week from the annual parliamentary recess that began in August.
“The petition calls on the elected Parliament to take action on a number of issues which we, who have put them in power, have been busy discussing for the last seven weeks while they have been on holiday,” the group said in a statement, while reiterating that failure to speak out in the face of the current state of affairs such atrocities is to be complicit.
From the public occupation of High Street and Brickdam, it says, participants in the movement have heard thousands of Guyanese express overwhelming disillusionment and disgust with the current state of affairs in the Guyanese society, including partisan politics that divide and ignore the voice of the ordinary person, leaders who fail to inspire but never fail to disappoint and a system that oppresses and disempowers the people.
“We bear witness to suffering by poor people of all racial and ethnic groups, from all over Guyana, and to the growing inequality between rich and poor. Most Guyanese are working far too long and hard for far too little wages, while others, because of their friends, family, and political connections, collect super salaries far beyond the service they provide to the nation.
Meanwhile, the most vulnerable members of our society, beginning with our children, struggle to make ends meet and to live dignified, fulfilling lives. These are the stories we have heard day after day,” it noted.
