PPP/C MPs today skipped an event on Guyana’s 50th anniversary of independence organised by Speaker, Dr Barton Scotland in the forecourt of Parliament as the party said it was not inclusive enough.
The party has released a letter it dispatched yesterday to the Speaker explaining the reason for its move. The letter follows:
Hon. Dr. Barton U.A. Scotland, O.R. C.C.H., M.P.,
Speaker of the National Assembly,
Parliament Buildings,
Brickdam.
October 27, 2016
Dear Mr. Speaker,
I am writing on behalf of the Parliamentary Opposition to inform you that our Members of Parliament have received invitations to, and, the draft programme of the “Afternoon of Reflection and Celebration on Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary” on Friday, October 28, 2016.
Whilst we originally assumed that this was a Parliament of Guyana activity, we realized that the Parliamentary Management Committee had not been involved in the planning of the activity.
On further inquiry, we were informed by the Clerk that this was your activity as Speaker.
Regrettably, the opportunity provided by a parliamentary activity on our 50th Independence Anniversary to reach out and be inclusive and achieve some modicum of bipartisan consensus between the two sides of the Legislature appears to have been ignored.
More importantly, our 50th birthday as a nation calls for forward thinking and a vision of the future in order to anchor the next generation(s) with ” a pride of place” in our dear land.
Thus, inclusion is key and critical.
Therefore, we find what appears to be an inexplicable restriction on the recognition of parliamentarians to the First and Second Parliaments alone. In our opinion, the 50 years of our independence includes all parliamentarians who have served and continue to serve Guyana over these five decades and eleven (11) Parliaments.
Therefore, the opportunity to be more inclusive and to reflect the diversity in our Legislature and of our nation- gender, youth, age, ethnicity-appears to have also been lost.
To illustrate this, we have noted that the two parliamentarians listed to speak are from the same parliamentary political party, the People’s National Congress, that is Mr. Oscar Clarke and Mr.Llewelyn John.
We have noted that no Member of Parliament for the PPP who served in the First and Second Parliaments has been included on the programme. Nor are we aware of what attempts have been made to contact the six (6) surviving Members. It may have been wise, in retrospect, to have sought the assistance of the People’s Progressive Party on this matter.
One of these parliamentarians, in particular, must be specifically identified due to the glaring lack of any female M.P., on the programme, and, that is Mrs. Philomena Sahoye-Shury (a member of the 2nd Parliament) who also served as a parliamentarian as recently as in the 9th Parliament.
The lack of inclusivity of younger M.P.s, female M.P.s and ethnically diverse M.P.s reflective of who we are as a nation in this programme is a sad reflection of where we are as a nation at 50 years old.
By way of this letter, I wish to indicate to you our profound disappointment with regards to the content of the programme for the event, and, as a result, we shall be unable to participate in your October 28th event in “reflection and celebration of our 50th Independence Anniversary”.
sincerely yours,
Gail Teixeira, M.P.,
Parliamentary Opposition Chief Whip.
- Clerk of the National Assembly,
Mr. Sherlock Isaacs.
Office of the Leader of the Opposition
Co-operative Republic of Guyana
304 Church Street, Queenstown
Georgetown
Tel: 592 225-3432 0r 225-3463
