The Chief Whip for APNU+AFC in Parliament, Christopher Jones and shadow minister of foreign affairs, Amanza Walton-Desir have written their counterparts, Gail Teixeira and Hugh Todd, respectively expressing disquiet about breaches in commitments that had been made at the meeting between President Irfaan Ali and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton on the border crisis with Venezuela.
The letters by Jones and Walton-Desir of yesterday’s date were released to the press.
Walton-Desir noted that at the Tuesday 24th October 2023 between Ali and Norton, it was agreed:
1. That the government and opposition will work together to confront Venezuelan aggression and threat to our sovereignty and territorial integrity;
2. That the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations (the Committee) will be the forum through which the united approach of government and opposition vis-a- vis the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy will be addressed;
3. That the government has comprehensive statistics on the number of Venezuelan migrants/refugees and their locations across Guyana and that Minister Todd will provide the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations with the said data at the Committee meeting, which was scheduled to, and did meet on the following day Wednesday, 25th October 2023; and,
4. That a Motion will be prepared by the Committee for the consideration of the National Assembly, which will form the basis of a joint parliamentary resolution on the Guyana/Venezuela territorial controversy.
At the Committee meeting Walton-Desir said that Todd indicated that because of several activities and factors including the absence of both the Speaker and the Clerk of the National Assembly, from the jurisdiction, he could not foresee the meeting happening for another two weeks (before the second week in November). Consequently, it was agreed that the Opposition and Government Chief Whips would coordinate and set an agreed to date for the proposed extraordinary sitting of the Assembly. Walton-Desir said it was also agreed that the draft text of a motion prepared by the Opposition and shared with the Committee will be reviewed and amended as necessary and that the final output would be the motion debated at the Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly which will form the basis of a joint resolution to be passed at the Extraordinary Sitting.
“However, contrary to these agreements, the requested statistics were not provided at the Committee Meeting. Consequently, the information to inform the debate was not made available to the Opposition.
“Additionally, a second draft of the text of the proposed motion from the Parliamentary Opposition has since been shared with the government for its consideration. To date we have received no feedback. Consequently, there is no Motion that has been agreed to as was discussed and agreed to in the meeting between the President and the Opposition Leader.
“Unfortunately, we are now, in receipt of a notice which proposes an Extraordinary Sitting of the National Assembly on Friday November 3, 2023-a date arrived at without consultation with the Opposition Chief Whip, as agreed. In addition, we are without an agreed to Motion for consideration. It follows therefore, that the government failed to do what is necessary for us to have a sitting in which we are united to confront Venezuela. We desire such a sitting.
“In these circumstances, we urge the Government to do everything to ensure that whenever we meet, we are united against Venezuela”, Walton-Desir wrote.
She added that whilst the Parliamentary Opposition has been clear, in word and deed, that it is united with the Government in confronting the Venezuelan threat, it cannot in good conscience abide with the abrogation of these agreements, particularly given the cordiality and good faith extended at the first meeting.
