Georgetown: President Donald Ramotar will being making an application to the Opposition for the commencement of much-needed dialogue as he shot down the many allegations peddled against his Administration since the prorogation of Parliament on Monday, November 10.
Despite political hostility on the part of the Opposition, Ramotar said he will approach both A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) to engage in talks, in a quest to move Guyana forward. Though the Opposition has made it clear that it will not engage in negotiations with the Government during the prorogation of Parliament, President Ramotar said he remained an optimist.
“I have been working on my negotiating team and in a matter of days I will be inviting the Opposition for us to begin the dialogue… I know they say they do not want to speak with us, but I will take this as their first position. Hopefully, when the emotions would have been removed, good sense would prevail,” he said.
Since Monday, President Ramotar has been engaging stakeholders and members of civil society. According to him, there is a general consensus that negotiations need to occur. However, if the Opposition fails to heed the President’s request or talks do occur, but hit rock bottom before the end of prorogation, the Parliament will be dissolved and elections called.
“I have said that I have absolutely no intention of recalling the Parliament and prorogating it to extend the life of the Government. I will not be doing that!”
He added: “The prorogation has a maximum period it could last, so I hope the problem could be resolved long before … hopefully, we can find enough common ground to recall Parliament and deal with the urgent business of the People.”
Although dubbing it the best of three options, he opined that the suspension of Parliament could have been prevented, but the Opposition was bent in its ways.
“Even though I had made pronouncements that the Opposition were being unreasonable to ask me to set a date for Local Government Elections when, at the same time, a Motion of No-Confidence was on the table. I did indicate that I was ready to go to Local Government Elections in the second quarter of 2015 … but the Opposition clearly indicated that they were going to suspend the business of the Parliament and vote for the No-Confidence Motion,” he explained.
The President emphasised that the Opposition should have been appreciative of the fact that he had set Local Government Elections for the second quarter of 2015. He added instead of pushing for debate on the No-Confidence Motion, APNU and the AFC could have joined hands with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in advancing the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, the Telecommunication Bill and the Education Bill, among other Bills.
Zooming in on some of the major criticisms that have surfaced since the decision was taken to suspend Parliament, Ramotar said many are baseless and seek to mislead the nation.
“There seems to be a lot of misconception and misunderstanding, some of them deliberate…”
While rubbishing the argument that the prorogation of Parliament is an abuse of the Constitution, President Ramotar made it clear that he acted within the confines of the law. In Articles 69 and 70, provisions are made in the Constitution of Guyana for the President to prorogue or dissolve Parliament.
But despite this glaring fact, the Opposition is insisting that the Ramotar Administration is moving towards a state of dictatorship.
“The accusation that this is creating a dictatorship or semi-dictatorship makes no sense because the prorogation does not give me a new power or new authority, nothing that would turn me into a dictator… I have no power, I cannot rule by decree, I cannot pass bills by myself,” he explained.
According to Ramotar, the “wild allegation” that he prorogued Parliament to have unlimited access to taxpayers money is fallacious. He explained that the Government will continue to be guided by the Constitution, noting that monies being spent will be within the budget. However, the Government is hoping to have the Parliament recalled before the Budget period creeps in.
Motion will be there
Meanwhile, Opposition and APNU Leader David Granger on Friday said that whenever the National Assembly resumes, the No-Confidence Motion will be there to greet President Ramotar and the PPP/C Administration.
Granger was at the time addressing a crowd of hundreds of APNU and AFC supporters as he delivered the feature address at an APNU rally at The Square of the Revolution.
Time and time again, the Opposition Leader and the AFC have asserted that there will be “no extra parliamentary talks” on matters that are before the National Assembly with the Executive.
Addressing a crowd of supporters, this policy of the Opposition was again made clear and affirmed by Granger and AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes.
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