While still claiming that the ruling PPP/C government is fraudulent, Joseph Harmon minutes after he was elected Opposition Leader said that he hopes to provide the quality of leadership that is needed at this time for the people of Guyana.
Harmon was yesterday nominated by new parliamentarian Ganesh Mahipaul and this was seconded by Christopher Jones, at a meeting with Speaker Manzoor Nadir minutes after the conclusion of the first sitting of the 12th Parliament, which was boycotted by the APNU+AFC over the election of Lenox Shuman as deputy speaker.
Shuman, the leader of the Liberty and Justice Party, was present at the meeting and supported Harmon by a show of his hand when the opposition members were asked to indicate their support for his nomination. While the APNU+AFC has 31 seats, Shuman has one seat by virtue of the fact that he joined his list with two other parties, with whom he is expected to share the five-year sitting.
Speaking after his nomination, Harmon said that there was some “tribulation” when the Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs announced that the matter of the nomination of opposition leader would be postponed to another date.
Isaacs had said that he was informed by the Minister of Public Health Frank Anthony that APNU+AFC Parliamentarian Jones had tested positive for COVID-19.
A video of the incident seen by Stabroek News shows Isaacs, the Speaker and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in a confrontation with Harmon over Jones’ presence at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
The three men could be seen requesting that the meeting and the subsequent swearing in be delayed until today and Jones be asked to leave the Centre.
Harmon in response declared that Anthony’s claim was bogus. He explained that Jones had been tested and been in isolation for 14 days as required. He did not indicate whether a second test had returned a negative result.
Following five minutes of discussion Jones was allowed to stay and was elected minority whip.
Isaacs noted subsequently that the National Assembly is the highest level of decision-making in the country and therefore as legislators they have to understand that fairness and impartiality are important elements.
The new opposition leader, who was propelled to this position after former President David Granger opted not to sit as a member of Parliament even though he was the presidential candidate of the coalition, told Nadir that he was moved by his remarks that he will be fair and impartial in everything he does since that is the hallmark of a good Speaker.
“The fact that we feel comfortable with your election we would give you our support,” Harmon told Nadir but promised that once the coalition members realise that things aren’t going right, “you would see another side of this opposition.”
“We hope that we don’t have to get to that point and we hope that we don’t have to be fighting against barriers and obstacles which are contrived to deny us the right to speak on the floor of the National Assembly,” Harmon told Nadir even as he thanked Shuman for supporting his nomination
Prior to his nomination Harmon told reporters that it would not be business as usual even though the opposition will give critical support as it relates to the sovereignty of the nation, public security and other matters they determine to be in the public interest.
He said they are committed to a robust and aggressive legislative agenda to see the removal of the “fraudulent government” so they can continue and build on the work they started while in office.
According to him, the opposition is not in its rightful place since it was legitimately elected to parliament but ousted from government by fraudulent means.
The PPP/C were declared winners of the March 2 election after a national recount showed that they garnered the most votes. The APNU+AFC had objected to several aspects of the elections claiming that among other things, that the recount revealed that persons who were dead had voted in the elections. A CARICOM team which had observed the recount stated that while there may have been some issues, these did not affect the overall outcome of the elections. The APNU+AFC has since filed an elections petition which it says will prove that the election was fraudulent.
“We did not get our rightful number of seats nor are we on the right side of the House which we ought to be. But we would work within the framework of the judiciary, where we have filed our elections petition, and the legislature to restore democracy to Guyana and to return to our rightful place in Government,” the new opposition leader declared.
He said he is honoured and pleased to lead the young and dynamic team of opposition parliamentarians while describing the list as one of the most diverse “in the history of Parliament of Guyana.”
He said they have young women with confidence and enthusiasm, fairness and eagerness, to get the people’s work done. And much of the work, according to Harmon, would be done in the communities, meeting citizens “eye ball to eye ball” which he said would ensure that when they present matters on the floor of the National Assembly it would be matters based on issues raised by the people.
The APNU+AFC parliamentarians will also be advocating the “decade of development”, which was first introduced by former President Granger. The pillars of the decade of development are: the green state development strategy, a digital state, an education state and the petroleum state.
Harmon also spoke of what he described as the “squandermania” that has started since the PPP/C was sworn into office and mentioned the 20 ministries that now exist compared to the 15 the APNU+AFC had. However, most of the ministries under the past Government had more than one ministers and under the Office of the President there were two departments headed by ministers.
In support of his claim, the opposition leader also mentioned several advisors and said they would be asking the government to account for the Rapid Financial and Management System team comprising of Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento, Public Communications Consultant; Christopher Ram, Chartered Accountant and attorney–at-law; Nigel Hinds, Certified Public Accountant; and Sasenarine Singh, Financial Consultant.
The opposition would be questioning how much the members were paid, who paid them, and what were their findings.
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gail Teixeira has publicly said the team worked pro bono.
And Harmon said in keeping with Clerk Isaac’s request he has submitted the original and a copy of his renunciation of his citizenship of the US and asked that it be circulated to all Parliamentarians. He hopes to see evidence of Teixeira and Shuman’s renunciation of their Canadian citizenship as well.
