A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) yesterday condemned government’s postponement of today’s parliamentary sitting saying that it was a “cold calculated move” to delay debating the four local government bills but that with or without government the combined opposition will be present for the session this afternoon.
Alliance For Change Leader Khemraj Ramjattan last night also said that his party’s members will all be present as the move by government was in breach of the parliamentary standing orders.
“APNU strongly condemns the unilateral attempt to postpone the sitting of the National Assembly from Thursday 25th July to August 7th 2013…The Prime Minister’s attempt to postpone tomorrow’s sitting sabotages the debate of the four bills and any chance of local government reform before the parliamentary recess,” Opposition Leader David Granger told an emergency press conference last night at his office.
Earlier yesterday Prime Minister Samuel Hinds wrote to Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman requesting the postponement. He said that the move was to have consultations at the “highest levels” to see if the rejected Hydro Electric Power Bill and a motion to increase the debt ceiling from $1B to $150B, could be restored before the recess of parliament. “This intervention will provide more time for the parliamentary parties to attempt to reach consensus on this most significant and single largest transformative development project ever undertaken by our country,” a section of the letter read.
The Prime Minister reasoned that today’s sitting would have been government’s day in parliament and that they decided on the postponement .
However Granger says that despite the fact that the bills were government’s the opposition views them as important and maintained that the postponement was an attitude of nonchalance by government to them.
“The action that the Prime Minister tried to explain is unlawful. There is no obligation on the part of the opposition to respect this part of the letter…We are saying under the standing orders of the National Assembly the Prime Minister has no such powers,” Granger said .
“The executive has no such authority …there is nothing in the standing orders that permits the government to postpone the sitting of the National Assembly from one date to the next. There is no such law. This is really a defiance of the National Assembly,” he added.
As such, in the capacity of Leader of the Opposition, he declared that they will be going to parliament.
“We are going to parliament there is no such reason why we shouldn’t. APNU and AFC will be going to parliament. It has nothing to do with hydro project or Amaila Falls it has to do with four local government bills and we view these bills as important and we see no reason why these bills should not be addressed,” he said.
He stated that the Speaker of the National Assembly has been informed of the opposition’s decision but that they had not up to press time gotten a confirmation on his decision.
In addition he said that since today’s order paper had a series of other matters to de dealt with these will be addressed should the four bills not be laid.
