The opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic will be in parliament in time for the presentation and debate of the 2015 National Budget.
This is according to executive member of the PPP, Dr. Roger Luncheon. Luncheon made the announcement yesterday at a press conference held at Freedom House. August 10 has since been announced as budget day.
Luncheon said that this information had been communicated to the Speaker and Clerk of the National Assembly. Gail Teixeira will serve as the Chief Whip for the Opposition. She was also Chief Whip when the PPP/C was in government.
He further confirmed that former President Bharrat Jagdeo will serve as the Leader of the Opposition.
The PPP which won 32 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly at the May 11 elections, is yet to attend any of the sittings of the 11th Parliament which first met on June 10. This absence according to the party was a form of protest against the refusal of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to grant the party’s request for a recount of the votes cast.
After two months of refusing to engage what it referred to as the “de facto” government, the PPP indicated three weeks ago, that it submitted to GECOM 32 names from its list of candidates of persons who will serve as members of the National Assembly. Sur-prisingly former President Donald Ramotar and his running mate Elisabeth Harper who led the PPP into the May 11, 2015 elections were not included on the list.
Yesterday, Luncheon announced that the party’s 10 new parliamentarians have completed training and had an induction exercise on Wednesday.
When questioned about whether PPP members who are facing criminal charges will be removed from the party’s list of representatives, Luncheon would not give a definitive answer. He instead expressed his belief in the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” even as he conceded “that perceptions are important”. Luncheon stressed that the media and public “should wait; speak not as though a decision has been made…I am saying to you, do not behave as though a decision has been made.”
“What we are deciding is the [extent to which] these perceptions of which you speak and I concede exists… would impact, influence the decisions of the Executive and the leadership of the Party”, he said.
Former minister Jennifer Westford has been charged with four counts of attempted larceny. The charges stem from attempts to transfer ownership of government vehicles to private persons while she was Public Service Minister. She was placed on $800,000 bail on Wednesday.
Yesterday, another PPP member who is to represent the Party in Parliament appeared in court to face a criminal charge. Former Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran appeared in the Whim Magistrate’s Court and pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge of using insulting language towards rights activist, Sherlina Nageer, who he was recorded threatening to slap and have publicly stripped.
Additionally, the intended Opposition Leader Jagdeo is facing a criminal charge of racial incitement for statements he made while campaigning for the recently concluded elections.
Luncheon has said that the party has made no decision about Westford’s return to parliament even as he confirmed Jagdeo’s return.
