At approximately 3 pm yesterday and following a commotion by protesting APNU+AFC MPs, the National Assembly considered and approved the 2021 Appropriation Bill which authorizes the issuance of $353.8 billion from the Consolidated Fund to meet expenditure for the fiscal year.
An additional $29.2 billion represents statutory expenditure for areas such as debt servicing which does not require approval.
The Bill, the largest in Guyana’s history, was passed four days ahead of schedule after the main opposition APNU+AFC walked out of the Chamber in protest at the presence of Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy. McCoy who has been accused of assaulting opposition member Tabitha Sarabo-Halley has denied the accusation and sat in the Chamber with the full support of the PPP/C government.
Following the suspension of Wednesday’s sitting, Speaker Manzoor Nadir attempted yesterday to restart consideration of the estimates with those of constitutional agencies but was interrupted by Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones who told the House that the female members of his side of the House felt unsafe with McCoy’s presence.
Jones requested that the Speaker exercise the powers of his office to exclude McCoy from the sitting until such time as the Police investigations into the accusation are concluded.
“The honourable member Kwame McCoy is not slated as a Minister to represent any of the Ministries or government agencies to be considered,” Jones stated in an attempt to highlight that this exclusion would not affect the day’s schedule.
The government Chief Whip, Minister Gail Teixeira objected on a point of order, noting that to raise the matter during the “Personal Statements” section of the Order Paper was inappropriate. The Speaker had previously excused Jones for this infraction since he had not noticed the member’s earlier attempts to gain his attention.
Teixeira went on to explain that if Jones wished to have McCoy suspended he needed to bring this request via a motion to the House.
“This should be totally rejected. The other side cannot ask for the removal of the member especially when there is a lot of questions. A lot of doubt about what happened yesterday,” she stated.
Nadir retracted his ‘exception’ and lectured Jones on what is allowed as a “Personal Statement”. He went on to agree with Teixeira that the matter needs to be brought to the House via a motion.
As Jones explained that the Opposition would not continue with the examination of the estimates while members felt unsafe, Nadir responded that “I cannot order any member how to conduct themselves within the confines of the Standing Order…We are all here representing people and if persons feel that is an appropriate response they can act.”
At this point all Opposi-tion members in the House stood to bang on their desks in protest.
“Kwame must go! Kwame must go! Kwame must go!” they declared even as Nadir in an apparent compromise said that the Opposition could table a motion which would be debated during the same Sitting.
Disturbance
At 10:50, the Speaker, amid the disturbance, suspended the sitting.
Three hours later when the sitting resumed no motion had been submitted by APNY+AFC and Jones again requested that McCoy be excluded. His request was denied and protest once again ensued.
During a virtual press conference held by Opposition members yesterday, Stabroek News asked why a motion was not laid as requested and was told the “time a motion takes to pass through procedures of the National Assembly suggested that the Speaker was engaging in a cop-out.”
APNU+AFC MP Amanza Walton-Desir who answered the question proclaimed that the Speaker has the power to require any member of the National Assembly to demit the premises.”
Though there are procedures, including a 12-day delay for the hearing of a motion brought by the Opposition, a motion for the suspension of a member is exempt from these procedures.
Standing Order 30 specifically states that a motion for the suspension of a Member is exempt from the requirement for notice.
Instead of moving a motion as advised the opposition protested in the Chamber. The refrain of “Kwame must go! Kwame must go!” rose from their benches accompanied by drumming on the tables.
Nadir however was intent on ignoring the disturbance and proceeded to breeze through the Consi-deration of the Estimates. A total of 29 budget agencies saw their estimates approved without question.
The Opposition members continued their protest for at least half of those agencies.
As the Estimates for the Ethnic Relations Commis-sion were laid on the floor for consideration, Chief Whip Jones was suspended for disorderly conduct.
The estimates were passed without question and the consideration of the estimates for the Judi-cial Service Commission (JSC) began.
At this point APNU+AFC MP Sherod Duncan turned on his microphone to declare to the House that “Kwame must go”.
He ignored the Speaker’s request to turn off his microphone and was suspended after he was also found to be videotaping the proceedings of the House.
The JSC budget was passed sub-head by sub-head as were the estimates of the Rights Commission, the Public Procurement Commission and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.
Opposition members Jermaine Figueira, Vinceroy Jordan, Natasha Singh-Lewis and Walton-Desir were also suspended in succession for videotaping the sitting.
The estimates for the Ministry of Agriculture were duly passed as we were the estimates for the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
During these “considerations” several members of the Opposition entered the centre of the dome at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) in an attempt to escalate the protest. APNU+AFC MP Sherwayne Holder who appeared to have assumed the post of choir director was then suspended by the Speaker.
Notably though the Speaker suspended the Opposition members he never invoked Standing Order 47 or attempted to have the members expelled from the Chamber in keeping with its requirements.
Standing Order 47 (2) prescribes that the Speaker shall order any Member whose conduct is grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately from the Assembly during the remainder of that day’s Sitting and may direct such steps to be taken as are required to enforce this order.
It adds that if, on any occasion, the Speaker considers that his or her powers under the previous provision of this Standing Order are inadequate he or she shall “suspend the proceedings of the Committee and as soon as the Assembly has resumed, shall report the circumstances” and allow for a motion to be moved for the members suspension.
“If any such motion be carried, and a Member be suspended, his or her suspension on the first occasion shall continue until the expiration of the fifth day, and on the second occasion shall continue until the expiration of the tenth day on which the Assembly sits after the day on which he or she was suspended, and on the third or any subsequent occasion until the Assembly resolves that such suspension be terminated,” the Standing Order provides.
The most famous attempt to invoke these provisions in recent history was on December 12, 2017 when PPP/C member Juan Edghill was suspended by Speaker Barton Scotland. Edghill’s refusal to leave the chamber resulted in the suspension of the 79th Sitting of the 11th National Assembly and degenerated into an altercation between the then opposition and the Guyana Police Force.
Yesterday, Nadir did not request a withdrawal of the suspended members instead he proceeded with the day’s business.
Thirty minutes after the recommencement the Clerk of the Assembly Sherlock Isaacs drew the Speaker’s attention to Standing Order 75 which allowed for each agency to be considered and passed en masse if no amendment or question is proposed.
The estimates of the Ministry of Natural Resources were then passed en masse as were those for the Ministries of Public Works, Education, Youth, Sport and Culture and Local Government.
Following the passage of the Local Government and Regional Development estimates the main Opposition members walked out of the Chamber as government members laughed.
In their absence the Regional Estimates were passed.
Just as the House moved to “consider” the estimates for Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) the only opposition member present, Deputy Speaker Lenox Shuman rose to ask if the estimates for the Ministry of Education would be tabled; he had been absent from the Chamber when they were brought
Shuman asked no questions as the rest of the agencies were swiftly approved.
The estimates for the Ministry of Housing and Water were passed en masse; Ministry of Health passed en masse; Ministry of Human Services passed en masse, Ministry of Labour passed en masse, Ministry of Home Affairs passed en masse and Ministry of Finance passed en masse.
At 13:52 hours the 2021 Estimates were passed in the Committee of Supply and referred to the National Assembly for approval.
Following a suspension for lunch, the Appropriation bill was laid and passed and a Supplementary Order paper covering several budget measures such as the Capital Gains Tax Amendment Bill was proceeded with.
This bill which was published in the Gazette on March 1, 2021 was read the first, second and third time following a suspension of Standing Order 52.
