-refuses to sit in Parliament for President’s speech
The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) refused to attend yesterday’s sitting of parliament, and instead held a public demonstration on the grounds that the administration is insensitive to the high cost of living and refuses to engage in the democratic systems afforded by parliament, a release from the party stated.
The release said that the decision was made not to attend yesterday’s parliamentary sitting at which the President spoke and its public demonstration served to emphasise that the nation is gripped by a series of crises: “a crisis in parliamentary democracy; a crisis in local government affairs; a crisis in political relations; a corruption crisis; a transparency and accountability crisis; a law enforcement crisis, and a crisis in terms of the high cost of living and poor quality of life experienced daily by most Guyanese citizens,” adding that a substantial percentage of the Guyanese people live in poverty despite the oil wealth.
The PNCR posited that in response to the aforementioned, the government will try to pretend that things are regular in the state of Guyana as it spares no effort in pretending that the people of Guyana are pleased and contented with their lives. It further accused the government of refusing to accept that a substantial percentage of people live in poverty and that they are raising their voices in protest, prompting the observation that “the PPP is either blind and deaf; or indifferent and heartless; or incompetent and clueless; or arrogant and elitist; or all the above.”
In view of this state of affairs, the opposition asserted that it will not play along with the PPP’s “deceptions and pretensions.”
The release assured that the PNCR will continue to fight on the people’s behalf and will continue to use all effective means at its disposal to expose and remedy bad governance, corruption, executive lawlessness, and all forms of discrimination. It will also continue to demand the easing of the economic burdens on the poor and vulnerable in Guyana that are a result of the PPP mismanagement, corruption, and divisiveness.
The PNCR referred to its attempts to utilise the parliamentary mechanism to its fullest to raise and address critical issues affecting the ordinary people of Guyana. It recalled that on January 20, 2022, the Parliamen-tary Opposition, under the hand of Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson MP, submitted a motion on the high cost of living crisis facing Guyanese. It noted that in response, the Speaker of the House used a “range of contortions” to eventually disallow this motion. It also tabled a record number of motions and questions to Ministers. However, it is the party’s view that as long as the Speaker of the House remains a “puppet of the government,” and for as long as the government continues to undermine and stifle parliament, “it will remain the sham that it is.”
The release also recalled that since the PPP/C government took office in August 2020, many Standing Committees of the National Assembly have not met to begin work. One such committee being the National Security Committee. With the increase in criminal activities, corruption in the Guyana Police Force and other serious crimes; the Opposition through its Shadow Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, is on record appealing to the Government for meetings to facilitate discussions and recommendations on these critical national issues.
Further, other committees such as the Committee of Appointments, the Foreign Services and Economic Services Committee all have outstanding and pending matters. “Yet the PPP government is willfully derailing the works of these Committees. In addition, the PPP regime has changed the rules governing the Public Accounts Committee in a way that their nonattendance prevents the Committee from meeting thus resulting in little or no parliamentary scrutiny of the public spending of the corrupt PPP government.”
Mention was made of other failures in democracy and governance such as the substantive appointments of Justice Yonette Cummings, as Chancellor and Justice Roxane George, SC, as Chief Justice which are long overdue, despite the Opposition Leader signalling his full agreement for their appointments.
Continuing on, the appointments of opposition representatives to State Boards are not done while the disregard for the rights and incomes of workers continues unabated with the cavalier approach to the management of the nation’s oil resources and revenues amounting to a national disaster.
And lastly, the release stated that the undermining and non-funding of local government councils chaired by the opposition is still a standard PPP practice, and forwarded the claim that persons are being coerced to enroll in the PPP party before they can receive entitlements such as jobs and contracts. “In a nutshell, the PPP has no interest in a functioning and democratic society and cannot obtain our support.”
Concerning the cost of living, several proposals to address this matter were put forward by the Leader of the Opposition, all of which the government has ignored: These include: 1) the provision of a salary increase for all government employees, several times higher than the last imposed pay increase; 2) the raising of the tax-free threshold to $150,000 per month to put more money in the hands of the over 200,000 Guyanese workers in the public and private sectors; 3) The development of agriculture in all regions to reduce the cost of food; 4) the provision of large grants to help farmers purchase equipment to bring costs down; 5) the distribution of fuel vouchers to bring the cost of fuel down for farm-to-market transportation; 6) the provision of two hot meals to students, to ease the high food costs their parents face; 7) The establishment of a school transportation network to remove student transportation costs; and 8) a payout of $300,000 per household from the windfall from the high oil prices caused by the Russia/Ukraine war.
The PNCR reminded that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, a few months ago openly denied the existence of the cost-of-living crisis and dismissed the grievances expressed by citizens as biased and a political ploy. “We said then, as we say now, he and the entire PPP government are out of touch with reality or must be blind, deaf, or just indifferent to the harsh realities of life in Guyana for the ordinary people. Nothing President Ali will say in parliament today will convince anyone. The President recognises that his government is unpopular and therefore today’s visit to Parliament is a charade and a political stunt aimed at reducing the people’s opposition to the Ali/Jagdeo regime.”
Mention was also made of the “disgraceful” salary increases paid to public servants and teachers over the last four years – increases that have been no match for inflation and the 70 per cent plus increases given by the APNU+AFC between 2015 and 2020.
“It is important to note that while the PPP regime cannot pay teachers and other public servants, it has ensured that one of its favourites received $7 billion in contracts. It is further exemplified by the grudging last-minute payout of the several billions of dollars for cost-of-living relief approved in the national budget. It is exemplified by the PPP’s reluctance to engage in good-faith collective bargaining with workers’ unions. Additionally, it is exemplified by the pitiful increase of $100 a day in pension from 2023 to 2024, with a similar meagre increase already announced for the 2025 budget.”
“Our country is in a mess and crisis. We in the opposition cannot and will not be silent or timid about this matter. The members of the Parliamentary Opposition cannot and will not entertain audience with President Ali in the House when his incompetence and the high levels of corruption are a product of PPP bad governance. To do so, would only serve to perpetuate the PPP myth that all is well in the state of Guyana, when clearly it is not,” the release added.
