Guyana president suspends parliament to avoid confidence vote

By Caribbean News Now contributor

GEORGETOWN, Guyana -- Amid ongoing accusations by opposition parties in Guyana of widespread corruption and over the failure to hold local elections since 1994, President Donald Ramotar on Monday suspended parliament to avoid a vote of no-confidence by the combined opposition, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which has a one seat majority in Guyana’s 65-member parliament and was therefore certain to bring down the government.

It would have been the first ever in the history of independent Guyana that a vote of no confidence has been brought against an administration.

Ramotar justified his action as a difficult one that is in the interest of Guyana, as he worked to "reach an agreement" with the opposition.

He said, "It is, however, my genuine desire to have the prorogation of the 10th Parliament ended sooner were my government and the opposition to reach an agreement for a return to normalcy. Further were these entreaties of cooperation by my government to be unsuccessful, I would then take the necessary steps for the holding of early general elections so that the democratic will of our people can be freely exercised."

However, the opposition claimed that discussions with the government have been exhausted and none of their concerns were met.

Leader of the opposition, Brigadier David Granger, said in a press statement on Monday, "President Ramotar has now single-handedly engineered a constitutional crisis. The main purposes of the ‘Proclamation’ are to allow the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to avoid parliamentary scrutiny."

Granger accused the Ramotar administration of suspending parliament to avoid "debate on the opposition ‘no-confidence’ motion; prevent the holding of local government elections; prevent debate on financial excesses and impropriety; protect the reputations of his ministers from parliamentary sanction; permit the PPP’s campaign for general and regional elections to proceed; permit the continued expenditure of state funds without parliamentary scrutiny."

However, Ramotar's pledge to have his "administration use that time during the period of prorogation to continue to engage the parliamentary opposition in constructive ways, in addressing the issues confronting Guyana," has been dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to buy time to "campaign" for the next election and spend state funds.

The constitution of Guyana, which is also known as the Burnham Constitution, for the former dictator of Guyana, gives the president executive power. It is the same constitution that the governing PPP party condemned while in opposition. Ramotar will have up to six months to reconvene parliament according to the constitution, which gives the president sweeping power. But according to former speaker of the house, Ralph Ramkarran, the PPP will soon have to return to parliament to pass the next budget.

The two largest political parties in Guyana are race-based that appeal to Afro- or Indo- Guyanese. However, people are beginning to break that cycle and also the PPP has been losing some of its Indian voters to the AFC, and also to rapid migration among Indo-Guyanese. Afro-Guyanese have accused the government of discrimination.

The Indo-dominated PPP has been in power since 1992.

There were peaceful protests around parliament square in Georgetown on Monday after Ramotar's announcement. Opposition leaders, who were among the protestors, said that they are "enraged by President Donald Ramotar’s decision to prorogue Parliament," and called it "darkest day for democracy in Guyana." They also threatened to internationalise the issue at the OAS, CARICOM, the UN and UNASUR.

FREDDIE KISSOON
www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/
The People’s National Congress has an opportunity today to tell the PPP that you harassed us for decades, saying that we rigged elections, now you are taking away the very rights of the Guyanese people you accused us of doing; we will not accept it.
The indications from various PPP leaders and a PPP advertisement in yesterday’s two independent dailies are that the President will prorogue Parliament this afternoon or in days to come. What is a hundred percent certain is that the PPP leadership will prevent the debate and voting on a No-Confidence Motion.
Guyanese must understand the ramifications of this horrific decision, and horrific may be a mild word. First, in announcing his decision by pointing to his constitutional right to prorogue Parliament, President Ramotar has done what he has been doing since he became a minority president – invoke the parts of the Constitution that gives him power and ignore those sections where he has no jurisdiction.
This is what got the outgoing US Ambassador upset when he implied that President Ramotar was not abiding by the Constitution in his refusal to call Local Government Elections. The President does not have constitutional power to reject the holding of Local Government Elections but he is doing just that. The Constitution provides for a Procurement Commission, he has refused to implement it.
In his imminent decision to prorogue Parliament, Ramotar is openly telling the two opposition parties that he will use the Constitution as his convenient tool. Secondly, in proroguing Parliament, President Ramotar will in effect be negating or de-recognizing the results of the 2011 General Elections.
A majority of political analysts have faulted the opposition in the way it (both APNU and AFC) has practiced politics since the PPP became a minority regime. The accusation was that the opposition allowed the PPP to operate as a majority party and that has had a tremendous boost to the psychology of invincibility of the PPP.
There cannot be even a scintilla of doubt that if the President prorogues Parliament and the opposition accepts governance in Guyana without the functions of Parliament, then that would be the last straw for Guyanese in their embrace of the PNC and AFC. Both parties are going to lose face, image and credibility. It simply means that they are prepared to be treated like faithful dogs by the PPP leadership.
To understand the dog analogy, one has to understand what prorogue means. It describes a system whereby the President suspends the life (its very life) of Parliament and the presidency runs Guyana. The presidency runs Guyana at the moment but the difference with now and when the Parliament is prorogued is that you have a Parliament that was elected by a majority vote and it checks and exposes the Government.
In proroguing Parliament, Mr. Ramotar dismisses the votes that were counted in the General Elections of 2011 and removes the majority that the opposition won. Believe it or not, this is what in actual term ‘prorogue’ means. If any party should not accept this, it is the PNC. The PNC held a free election in 1992 and recognized the votes that were counted and gave up power. The PNC has to be a jackass to see that its votes in the 2011 elections have now been discarded and it remains unruffled.
Thirdly, there can be no greater insult heaped on an opposition by a government anywhere in the world than the PPP’s reason for the prorogue pathway. The PPP says that in the period when the Parliament is demobilized, it will provide the space for the opposition and government to negotiate. This is the most bestial and sadistic insult a minority government can throw in the face of an opposition that won a majority in a national election.
In effect, what the PPP is saying is that you have the Parliament, we have the presidency. We will not negotiate from that position. We will take Parliament away from you and that should force you to come to the presidency and talk. This is exactly what the PPP leadership has said to the opposition. And for an opposition to accept that degrading and profane act of dehumanization, then I would suggest the Guyanese people forget about the opposition and save their souls and minds by supporting the government.
There is only one way to save this country. The opposition and the presidency have to sit down and negotiate a national government. If the PPP suspends Parliament and rule by proclamation, then free and fair elections are dead. This, the PNC cannot and must not accept.

exactly. let them go for a vote of no confidence

under the present constitution he can suspend parliament.

LFS  what a constitution he created.

The Organisation of American States (OAS) today said it hopes that parliamentary debate here could resume in the shortest possible time and it noted that an efficiently functioning Parliament allows for checks and balances and for the voice of the people to be heard.
In a statement, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza urged the governing and opposition political parties to “redouble their efforts to reach an understanding and compromise on the major political and socio-economic issues facing the country”.