With Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo urging government MPs to vote their conscience, a parliamentary showdown on the PPP/C’s motion of no-confidence is set as scheduled for Friday as PM Moses Nagamootoo has rejected a suggestion that it be deferred to early next year.
“There are many of them that express displeasure about the state of affairs within that camp and about the policies they are pursuing…[We hope] that some of them will grow a conscience and translate what they say privately into a vote and we hope that that will happen because it wouldn’t mean an act of betrayal, it would be an act of patriotism,” Jagdeo said, noting that given its public statements, the coalition appears to be in a state of panic.
This is one of the issues Jagdeo spoke about during a press conference held at his Church Street office. He suggested that because the planned no-confidence motion fell during the Christmas period it could be deferred until early January. This was rebuffed last night by Nagamootoo who is also the Leader of Government Business in the House.
In a statement, Nagamootoo said “Media reports state that Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo wants to defer debate on his limp No Confidence Motion until next year.
“This appears bizarre as Jagdeo had been calling for the motion to be debated before the Budget. Now with the motion being imminent he is seeking to delay. It can mean only one thing – that Jagdeo knows there is absolutely no chance of success. Let it be heard and let it be defeated.
“Since May 2015, the Coalition Government has been working tirelessly to get rid of all the mountain of literal and figurative garbage that we inherited from the Jagdeo-Ramotar era.
“Jagdeo now seeks to lump this motion – which amounts to nothing more than a political bluff – onto the pile. Now that the real motive of this desperate act is being exposed, Jagdeo is seeking to back away but as we had called for before – BRING IT ON! We in the Coalition Government are ready and willing to defend our record”.
As the mover of the motion, Nagamootoo said that Jagdeo would be better advised to withdraw the motion, not to defer its rejection.
A meeting involving all the MPs later yesterday did not finalise the list of speakers. Jagdeo told Stabroek News last night that another meeting will be held later in the week to iron out that list.
During the press conference yesterday Jagdeo was asked about the number of speakers and what format the debate will take. In response he said “you can have two or three speeches and then go straight to the vote or you can have large numbers of speakers. I could very well put 32.”
Mandate to govern
Jagdeo at the press conference insisted that the government has “lost its mandate to govern,” particularly given the numerous broken promises contained in the 2015 campaign manifesto.
“They have managed the affairs of our country in a manner that harms large numbers of people …we have been become heavily indebted, we are not attracting investments, they have pawned our assets through incompetence, [through] negotiations …because of bad contracts. This government in such a short period has become the most corrupt government and we have evidence to prove that,” he said.
He stressed that the no confidence motion is not a PPP imposition as such a thing is catered for in Guyana’s constitution. He reminded that APNU had previously sought the identical remedy but the then PPP government opted to call elections instead.
Jagdeo noted that the trends are clear. “The arrogance of this government, its impervious nature to criticism or to even advice is so evident that they will not change course…the trends are all clear, they are not gonna get better. They are gonna get worse at this and it will be harmful to our country and therefore we have decided to pursue this course of action.”
The former president noted that while the PPP does not know whether the motion will succeed, all it needs is “one person” on the governing side voting in favour of the motion or at least two government MPs abstaining.
Jagdeo told reporters yesterday that based on the information reaching the party attempts will be made to interfere in the process and he said that he fears for the safety of his MPs.
He said that the party is aware that there is a plan to install people in the parliament gallery and “should someone vote in favour of the no confidence motion, from the gallery they will invade the House to disrupt the no confidence vote. Should that fail some of their members of parliament themselves may disrupt the vote of the house. They are hoping that if you disrupt the vote of the House then the vote will fail and if …the disruption takes place long enough then they can recall that MP and stave off or defeat the no confidence motion,” he said.
He added that the PPP is well aware that there will be street protests and that persons will try to intimidate opposition MPs. “We are ensuring that our members of Parliament, that they don’t do anything to prevent them from going to Parliament on that day, so that they are not (absent) at the time that the voting takes place,” he added.
He expressed hope the Speaker will put measures in place to protect the opposition MPs and to ensure that the vote proceeds smoothly and that he will act in an impartial manner. Jagdeo said that the party will also ask the diplomatic corps to observe the vote.
He said the party will also be writing the police commissioner outlining security concerns and requesting that law and order be maintained.
Further, he expressed disagreement with the date fixed and said that he will support a shifting of the date to January 3. It was this statement that the PM responded to last night.
Jagdeo reminded that the party had been hoping to have the no confidence motion debated earlier but government decided to bring it “snack, directly into the Christmas season when most of our people are focused on everything else and it could be disruptive and divisive in this period when we should be coming together and celebrating as Guyanese.”
He also hinted at the possibility of the debate lasting more than a day. “I don’t know. If you go with a large number of Speakers, that’s a possibility,”.
Based on the information provided to this newspaper, the debate will begin at 2 pm.
Jagdeo announced the filing of the motion on November 15th.
