President Donald Ramotar yesterday said that the controversial prorogation of Parliament could last until the New Year.
When asked by this newspaper what his next course of action would be as it has been a week since he wrote the Leader of the Opposition, David Granger requesting talks and there had been no response, Ramotar said that it was “quite possible” the prorogation on November 10th, 2014 would be continued into 2015.
He told Stabroek News that he didn’t want to tie himself down to a timeline and was giving Granger more time to respond to his formal request for dialogue. The Opposition Leader is yet to respond and told Stabroek News after Tuesday’s shadow cabinet meeting that no decision has been made as yet if he will engage the president. Granger has reiterated multiple times that before any talks can occur, Ramotar will have to end the House suspension.
Ramotar said that the “prorogation will end one way or another,” continuing that he is sure that it will not last the entire six months allowed under the Constitution. Ramotar prorogued the House to avoid a motion of no-confidence which was to be piloted on the same day by AFC MP Moses Nagamootoo and which was expected to bring down the government and trigger fresh elections.
Ramotar’s government has found little support for prorogation which critics have argued has shut down the legislative branch of government and the forum through which the people’s representatives are heard. The critics say it is also foolhardy for the President to expect dialogue with the opposition when he has ejected them from Parliament and there has been no track record of credible negotiations between the two sides in the last three years.
The President told this newspaper yesterday that he was not looking for a long suspension period but that he was giving the leader of APNU more time to respond to his invitation prior to making any decisions.
Ramotar spoke with Stabroek News at the book launch of former Foreign Affairs Minister and Commonwealth General Secretary, Sir Shridath Ramphal. The book launch held at Georgetown Club was also attended by Granger although the two political leaders did not engage each other.
In a letter dated Novem-ber 18th to Granger, Ramotar said he had repeatedly stressed that the parliamentary sitting for November 10 which his prorogation order forestalled, would have ended the life of parliament and left many important issues unaddressed. He said his decision to prorogue Par-liament delayed this eventuality, thereby providing an opportunity for talks.
Urging that the opportunity be used wisely, Ramotar said in the letter “… I propose we quickly commence a high level engagement of two teams led by myself and yourself respectively, to agree on a post-Prorogation Parlia-mentary Agenda on which an Order Paper can be based”.
The President told Granger that he stood “prepared to meet at the shortest notice, to initiate steps.”
The combined opposition has remained firm in their response, refusing to engage in any talks with the president while the National Assembly has been suspended.
Critics have ventured that while the President has the constitutional powers to prorogue parliament it was not intended to be used in this manner.
The Catholic Church has called for Parliament to be recalled soonest and two private sector groups, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Guyana Manufac-turing and Services Asso-ciation have said that elections may be the only way to break the deadlock. Elections would likely have been the outcome of Nagamootoo’s motion.
The UK High Commis-sioner to Guyana Andrew Ayre has called for Presi-dent Ramotar to reconvene the National Assembly as soon as possible stating that Parliament is the “central pillar of democracy.”
Ayre said, “The UK calls on the Government of Guyana, or the President more precisely of Guyana to reconvene Parliament at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Article 50 (of the Guyana Constitution), it clearly refers to democracy in Guyana being made up of the President, the Cabinet and parliament so it’s important that we stay within the Constitution of Guyana going forward.”
He said that while the Constitution did give the President the power to prorogue Parliament, “it also gave in Article 106 part 6 the right for a majority of MPs to dissolve the parliament essentially and have new elections.” He was responding to media questions in relation to the President’s decision to prorogue Parliament instead of face an opposition no-confidence motion.
The Organization of American States has also called for the swift ending of prorogation.
