President David Granger yesterday reported on his administration’s stewardship of the country in the nearly two and a half years since it assumed office, but his state of the nation address to the National Assembly was mostly drowned out by heckling members of the opposition, who staged a protest in the parliamentary chambers.
It was public knowledge that Granger was going to address the National Assembly after the almost-three-month-long recess and it was expected that the PPP/C’s members of Parliament would walk out following Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo’s declaration of non-cooperation over the president’s unilateral appointment of retired judge James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom).
Instead, after the president began his speech, in full view of the heads of the foreign missions in Guyana, the judiciary and the armed forces, the PPP/C members pulled out placards and silently held them up.
‘Jobs for youths,’ ‘Billions squandered,’ No Aspirins available,’ ‘Unilateral GECOM appointment’ and ‘Boom out Granger #untrustworthy’ were some of the messages written in red, black and green on the white cards.