Government Chief Whip Gail Teixeira has said that she is awaiting the outcome of the ongoing engagement between President Donald Ramotar and Opposition Leader David Granger before setting a date to reconvene Parliament.
This engagement has to “evolve” Teixeira said in a statement yesterday, while insisting that both parties had a tacit understanding the sitting could reconvene early next month. This, she said, was also based on unsuitable proposed dates on both sides.
Teixeira’ statement was in response to accusations from APNU Chief Whip Amna Ally, who accused her of stalling and it came after the joint opposition met on the situation.
A statement from the main opposition APNU said that a team from the coalition met with a team from AFC to discuss the early resumption of sittings of the National Assembly and agreed that a sitting is “not just desirable but necessary in the public interest.”
The APNU-AFC meeting was on Wednesday at the Office of the Opposition Leader, Hadfield Street Georgetown and it came in the wake of growing views that the government is delaying the reconvening of the House to avoid having to face the AFC’s no-confidence motion, which, if passed as expected, will bring down the government and trigger general elections in three months.
But observers pointed out that Teixeira’s statement lends greater credence to views that the government and APNU are trying to strike a deal which would stave off the no-confidence motion which the AFC intends to pilot at the first sitting following the end of the parliamentary recess.
Teixeira yesterday accused Ally of publicising partial information regarding the reasons for the delay, after bi-lateral discussions.
She said: “As Chief Whip I have abided with the engagement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition, however, it appears that Ms. Ally as Opposition Whip is coming under undue pressure from the A.F.C. and the more belligerent elements of the A.P.N.U. and as a result is having a difficult time.”
Teixeira said she had several discussions regarding suitable dates for the sitting to resume and there was no agreement for October.
“We, then, had a tacit understanding that it would be held in the early part of November. I reminded her and reiterated on more than one occasion that once there was an opening and the President and Leader of the Opposition were engaged in some kind of dialogue that this process should be given a chance to evolve. I told her I would await the outcome of this engagement and advised her to do the same,” Teixeira added.
A debate is also underway as to who has the authority to reconvene sittings at the end of a recess where a date has not been fixed for sittings. The Clerk of the House Sherlock Isaacs has said that the government has to call the sitting. Former Speaker Ralph Ramkarran has said that the current Speaker is obligated to convene a sitting of Parliament soonest and has the authority to do so. House Speaker Raphael Trotman has consulted with former House speakers and is said to be considering the way forward.
