President Donald Ramotar last evening announced that the National Assembly will reconvene on Monday and in an about-face for his administration he threatened early elections if the opposition tries to proceed with a debate of a no-confidence motion against his government.
During a televised address to the nation, Ramotar ended weeks of uncertainty over when the first sitting of the Assembly would be held and also announced his intention to see the holding of long-delayed local government elections in the second quarter of next year, if “urgent” government business is allowed to proceed uninterrupted.
“I also wish to declare that were this not to be so, and I am provided with reasons to believe that the parliamentary opposition intends to disrupt government’s business by forcing a debate on their no-confidence motion, I resolve to respond immediately by exercising my constitutional options to either prorogue or dissolve parliament paving the way for holding of general elections,” he declared.
Article 70 (1) and 70 (2) of the Constitution provide that the President may at any time, by proclamation, prorogue or dissolve Parliament.
The leaders of the parliamentary opposition, APNU and the AFC, which have a one-seat majority in the House, last evening both declared their intention to proceed with the no-confidence motion. Opposition Leader David Granger also accused Ramotar of taking a “coward’s way out” by running from the no-confidence motion.
If passed, the motion would force the President and his Cabinet to resign and the set off the holding of general elections within three months.
The administration has been accused of stalling the reconvening of the National Assembly as a result of the looming motion, which was filed prior to the parliamentary recess. The AFC, which has been pushing for the parliamentary sitting, has already announced plans to move for the motion to be given priority.
Ramotar’s threat yesterday appeared to be an attempt to forestall the motion and is a departure from the administration’s position that was articulated in September by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, who had said that government would not call snap elections to pre-empt the debate. “We need to dispense with this notion that this administration, to counter the no-confidence motion, would seek to introduce some snap elections. It will not happen… This administration does not propose to engage in such a futile course of action,” he told reporters on September 17.
The president too had previously said that the holding of general elections was pricey and as a consequence he would prefer to wait until the end of his five-year term for new elections. “Elections are an expensive thing too, you know. So let’s try to save the Guyanese people some money and go as long as we can, to the term if possible,” he had said.
In his brief address to the nation on the state-owned NCN Channel 11 last evening, Ramotar emphasised that with the end of the parliamentary recess the National Assembly must resume its deliberations to address “several very important matters” that were on the Order paper but not completed as well as new matters.
These include the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill and the repercussions of Guyana’s non-compliance on both the economy and the lives of citizens; the Telecommunications Bill, intended to liberalise the telecoms sector; the Education Bill, intended to introduce a sweeping overhaul of public education; and Financial Papers that Ramotar said provide for expenditure of public funds for development projects and improving the welfare of the people.
He said these were “key to our future” and would allow us to build a better society and a more resilient economy.
He also noted that he has been further advised that the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) will require six months to prepare for local government elections under the new local government electoral system. “Pending further consultations with the Guyana Elections Commission on its preparations, I also now announce my intention to hold local government elections in the second quarter of next year, 2015,” he said, adding that these plans are based on the assumption that the post-recess sittings of the National Assembly would proceed without interruption. Ramotar has been pressed over the last 18 months to call local government elections but has failed to do this.
Ramotar, who began his address by saying there are those who want to divide Guyana and take the country back into the past, said Guyana deserves better than “political games that serve to only benefit a select few while damaging the welfare of the people.”
He noted that the government remains committed to forging partnership and taking appropriate actions in the interest of the stability, unity and prosperity of the country.
“The future of Guyana is bright, but all of our progress will be lost without a combined effort to move our country forward,” he added.
‘Coward’s way out’
Granger, when contacted last evening, told Stabroek News that APNU is prepared to support the AFC’s no-confidence motion, while noting that the government has failed to defend its record.
He also voiced his disappointment at the “cowardly” route that the president has chosen to take in respect of the matter. He said Ramotar should “face up to his responsibilities to the nation and defend his administration.” According to him, the president’s decision to “run away” means that he is not prepared to defend his administration’s record. He also said that the president “failed to negotiate in good faith. He has not negotiated at all. He made no attempt to be reasonable and pay attention to the opposition’s calls.”
With respect to Ramotar’s threat to prorogue or dissolve the Assembly, Granger stated that this is not a “democratic answer but a dictatorship answer” before adding that it is “a coward’s way out.”
Granger also said what the president and his government had done is delayed the National Assembly for four weeks, thereby not allowing the four matters he mentioned in his address to not be dealt with. “There is no indication that he was anxious to discuss them… if he was so anxious, why wait a whole month?” he questioned before suggesting that the president is now “pretending to be anxious.”
Ramotar gave no explanation for the month-long interim between the end of the recess and the first sitting.
With respect to Gecom’s readiness and the local government elections, for which APNU has been campaigning, Granger said that the opposition had previously moved to have the polls run off earlier this year. He said that if the president had acted when the National Assembly directed him to act, “we would not have been in this position.” Ramotar earlier this year vetoed an opposition amendment to have the polls, which have been due since 1997, held by August 1st. In that instance, he had also cited the needed six-month timeframe for Gecom to be ready to run off the elections.
Meanwhile, AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan, in an invited comment, welcomed the threat to dissolve the National Assembly if the opposition proceeds with its debate of the no-confidence motion. “I am glad he will dissolve Parliament,” Ramjattan told Stabroek News, before adding that this will be followed with the announcement of a date for general elections within the 90 days as outlined in the Constitution with respect to such a situation.
He was nevertheless hopeful that on Monday things will go well. “Let’s hope that things will go well when we debate,” he said, while pointing out that there are a lot of things that can come out. “We just have to wait and see,” he added.
Ramjattan welcomed the announcement of the reconvening of the Assembly even though he said the task should have been left up to the Prime Minister. He pointed out that setting of an early day date is the result that his party has been fighting for and added that all the “drag and delay” could have been easily avoided had the Prime Minister just announced November 10th as the date for the House to reconvene. He said that such a move would have ended all of the speculation and prevented recent events, such as the “disappearance of the mace.”
