APNU and the AFC have condemned what they called the withdrawal from them of the 2023 report of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA)
In a joint statement, they said that the Order Paper for the 10th October sitting of the National Assembly sent out on the 3rd October to members clearly indicated that the PCA 2023 Report was to be circulated to members on the 20th October. The Assembly staff duly placed copies of the Report on the desks of all members. The Opposition boycotted that Sitting.
Last week, Opposition members including Shadow for Home Affairs, Khemraj Ramjattan, sought to uplift their copies from the Parliamentary staff only to be told that the Report has been pulled by Government Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira.
Questioned as to the reason why, the statement said that Ramjattan was informed by staff that the Report needed to be approved by Cabinet before being tabled and before it could be delivered to individual members.
“This, apart from being wholly untrue, is most unparliamentary. The PPP Minister’s action has resulted in Opposition members being unable, to this date, to access the Report”, the statement said.
The statement added that this is yet another example of the government denying Opposition Members of Parliament their right to information.
The Opposition APNU and AFC parliamentarians called for the release of the report.
