The PPP is keeping its cards close to its chest about possibly calling snap elections, despite its continued concerns about the actions of the opposition parties in the National Assembly.
At a press conference held at Freedom House yesterday, members of the party made no secret of their continued outrage at the actions of the opposition in the National Assembly and what they mean for Guyana’s democracy and the Constitution.
“It is the government’s prerogative to decide such things other than a vote of no confidence against the government. But the party and the government will make such decision as appropriate, if and when required. We do not take this issue lightly and it is not something that we believe should be bandied about,” PPP/C MP and Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira told reporters when asked about the possibility of snap polls.
“We are in continuous registration… we began this press conference talking about continuous registration and so the issue of if and when there be elections cannot be taken outside of any consideration of continuous registration,” she noted.
Teixeira made reference to the last sitting of the National Assembly, on February 14, arguing that the Deputy Speaker Deborah Backer clearly flouted all rules when she ruled in defiance of the substantive Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman in not allowing Minister of Home Affairs to speak in the House.
“Backer summoned three members of each party prior to the sitting to state that her position was that she would not allow Rohee to debate the Firearms Bill nor would she allow [him] to table two new Bills,” she said.
“We raised our objections to this and she made it clear that she is not going to budge from her position,” she said. She said that Leader of the Opposition David Granger was at the meeting as were Basil Williams, Amna Ally, Khemraj Ramtattan and Cathy Hughes for the opposition. Representing the government at the meeting were Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Prime Minister Sam Hinds and Teixeira.
“The fact that Backer overthrew the ruling of the Speaker is not to be taken lightly. It was a coup d’état,” she said. “This is an indication of bullyism and total disregard for the norms and practices,” she added.
She said that the bullyism of the opposition parties was not only against the government but also against the Speaker of their choosing.
“In addition to what they are doing in the House, they are also legislatively overturning the democratic architecture of our country and undermining the Constitution,” she said.
“What happened on February 14 is a coup. The Deputy Speaker said ‘I don’t care what the [Speaker] said. I am in the Chair and Rohee is not speaking. He is not even going to read the first reading of his new Bill,’” said Teixeira.
“The Deputy Speaker holding for two hours decided whatever the Speaker did before held no sway and that she was in the chair and that she was not going to allow Rohee to speak,” she further charged.
On a previous occasion Speaker Trotman had permitted Rohee to speak on security matters as he said this was important to the nation in light of the crimes that were occurring. A day later, Trotman however clarified that the issue of Rohee speaking in Parliament would be decided on a case by case basis until a definitive ruling by the court. It is therefore not certain that he would have allowed Rohee to present the bill on February 14.
Nandlall said that with the bills being brought by the opposition, there is an attempt “to redistribute power in this country…to take power away from the Executive and place it elsewhere.”
