Opposition Chief Whip, Amna Ally yesterday said she has been unable to ascertain why government Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira is not committing to a sitting of the National Assembly even though dates into the beginning of November have been suggested.
Ally told Stabroek News that “I don’t know why she (Teixeira) is dilly-dallying, we have come out of the recess I don’t understand why the wait…She is not rejecting the dates but she is telling me that the Leader of the Opposition and the President need to make that decision. As far as I know the Parliament Management Committee mandated that the whips agree on a date.”
The first sitting of Parliament following the end of the recess is expected to see an Alliance For Change (AFC) no-confidence motion piloted against the government. The expected passage of this motion will trigger the collapse of the government and general elections in three months. Observers say that the government appears desperate to stave off a sitting until it has exhausted the available options. Sources say that the PPP/C government is trying to work out a deal with opposition coalition APNU which could possibly lead to local government elections instead. An APNU delegation headed by its Leader,
David Granger met with President Donald Ramotar and a team at the Office of the President on Monday. The government has been silent on the talks while APNU has said that that the two sides discussed the national governance agenda. APNU added that it remained committed to supporting the AFC’s motion of no-confidence “whenever” it is presented, hinting that there could be a deferral of the motion.
For the second day running, Teixeira could not be contacted by Stabroek News to explain why a date has not yet been fixed for the reconvening of Parliament.
Ally expressed her frustration that proposing dates for the sitting of the National Assembly has gone nowhere since the recess ended on October 10. Ally said that “we cannot go on like this without reconvening Parliament.”
Ally was not able to elaborate on whether the ongoing talks between APNU and the government had anything to do with the Government Whip’s stalling. Ally told Stabroek News that “… I don’t know that anything is contingent on those talks. So far I don’t know what is going to come out of the talks.”
When pressed by Stabroek News on the matter, Ally reiterated that coming out of the Parliament Management Committee meeting last Wednesday her understanding was the finalizing of a date for the sitting of the National Assembly was a decision that was to be agreed upon by the chief whips.
She said that “I am tired calling her on it and she, it seems to be, buying time for something, I don’t know about what and I am not going to get involved in that.”
Ally continued that she has proposed a sitting on October 30, if that was not possible the first week of November but has failed to get a clear response from Teixeira. “Ms Teixeira is going around in circles and I am not going around.”
Stabroek News has reached out to the government chief whip via email and numerous phone calls without success. This newspaper was told that Teixeira was out of town yesterday.
APNU talks with government
Teixeira was present during the high-level meeting between the APNU delegation and President Ramotar’s team on Monday. Members of APNU did not request information on why there has been no date set for the Parliamentary sitting as yet.
Observers noted that at the Executive level APNU may not want the no-confidence motion dealt with immediately while still maintaining its support for the motion. Although two separate press releases were issued by the APNU following the Monday talks with Ramotar and members of the cabinet, the coalition party has remained vague as to what came out of the high level meeting on “advancing the national governance agenda.”
Observers have posited that if APNU is indeed supportive of the no-confidence motion then that should have been uppermost in the talks with Ramotar and his team particularly since APNU has charged that the government has not entertained any productive dialogue in or out of Parliament over the last three years or made any concessions.
Observers say that the government and APNU appear to be testing the waters for a political agreement that could seize the initiative from the AFC which has dictated the agenda in recent weeks with its push for the no-confidence vote.
APNU said in a press release on Tuesday that “the meeting was held in the wake of the opposition’s year-long demand and public protests in support of early local government elections. APNU iterated its call for the President to name a date for the holding of local government elections. APNU also committed to collaborate on a process by which the President would assent to the Local Government Bill No. 12 of 2012; the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2013; the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act Bill No. 24 of 2012 and Bill No. 5 of 2013 and the Former President (Benefits and other Facilities) Bill No. 29 of 2012.”
The bills referred to by APNU have been mired in deep disagreement and Monday’s meeting was not the first time that the PPP/C government had said it would be prepared to discuss them. One of the local government bills which would strip powers from the Local Government Ministry and transfer these to local government organs has been particularly opposed by the government.
The Former President (Benefits and other Facilities) Bill No. 29 of 2012 which seeks to rein in huge benefits that former President Bharrat Jagdeo designed for himself was the subject of bitter controversy between the two sides and is unlikely to see any ground being yielded by the government.
The APNU press release added that Attorney General Anil Nandlall was attending a Financial Action Task Force meeting in Paris and, therefore, was absent from the APNU-PPP/C meeting. It said that the PPP/C team deferred making a decision on the Bills and on determining a date for local government elections.
Observers say this latter statement suggests that the government may be prepared to name a date even though over the last year or so it has steadfastly refused to do so and has offered a flurry of excuses as to why this is not possible.
Observers note that if APNU succeeded in having a date named for local government elections that could upset the AFC’s drive for a no-confidence vote as the local government polls would have to be held while the government was in place.
APNU’s team included parliamentarians Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Basil Williams, Carl Greenidge and Joseph Harmon. The PPP/C team included parliamentarians Dr Ashni Singh, Irfaan Ali, Teixeira and Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon.
The setting of a date for Parliament to reconvene has also led to a debate over whether Speaker Raphael Trotman has the ability to call a sitting on his own.
