Georgetown: Head of State, Donald Ramotar, has sent a clear message to the current dispensation of Parliament, where there is no absolute majority, that the Government will not be held to ransom.
Ramotar as he convened Guyana’s 10th Parliament told the Members of Parliaments that, “as willing however as my Government is to exercise patience, forbearance and reasonableness in the interest of all of our people my administration will not be held to ransom to intractable postures.”
The recently elected Head of State, despite lamenting that the election for Speaker of the House broke from Convention, offered Raphael Trotman his congratulations, adding that he shares his “desire to ensure the smooth operations of this the 10th Parliament.”
The convening ceremony was not without demands from the opposition as David Granger, leader of the Opposition, firstly drew reference to the fact that he was speaking on behalf of the Majority of the House. Granger told the President that, “we are not a monarchy and no longer an autocracy, but we are now a democracy.”
He suggested that the 10th Parliament represents a new configuration and dispensation and “we should take opportunity to look at new methods of managing Parliament.”
Granger also used the opportunity while speaking on behalf of the majority of those in the National Assembly to call on the President to adopt a Republican-style approach and make an annual presentation in the House as it relates to the state of affairs of the nation.
Ramotar in his presentation did not outline any specific policies as had been expected by some and what might have come as a surprise to many was the fact that Ramotar’s predecessor was named only once during his presentation. In introducing His Excellency to make his historic presentation Speaker of the House, Trotman, underscored that the Parliamentarians in its current dispensation are presented with, by the people of Guyana, an unprecedented opportunity for cooperation. In the prelude to the President’s presentation Trotman told Ramotar that, “we are here to receive your vision,” a vision he said that he is hopeful will be paired with those in the House for a new and better transformed Guyana.
President Ramotar in his presentation firstly pointed to the fact that the 10th Parliament starts at a challenging period in Guyana’s history where no single party in the House has an absolute majority.
He underscored the fact that while it is a new experience to the Guyana politics, others in the world have had similar dispensations with mixed results. Ramotar warned that there are those that “in some cases they were successful, in others they have not been so fruitful, and in some downright failures.”
He lamented that there is no unified model for the Guyana 10th Parliament to follow but challenged the MPs to serve as an example so that other countries finding themselves in a similar conundrum would have an example to follow.
He conceded that, “Yes we have our differences….This is perfectly natural, we would continue to have varying views on many issues, the important thing is how we move forward in resolving our positions.”
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