Below is a statement by Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon on the reconvening of the National Assembly on Monday:
“I have said many times in the past and of recent after the arrest of former Finance Minister Mr. Jordan and the publishing of a wanted bulletin for Mr. Rickford Burke that the PPP is blatant in their attempt to silence those who expose and challenge them, it shows clearly that we are now being governed by a dictatorship which refuses to allow others to criticize its poor attempt at governance, poor handling of the economy and their racist nature. Today I want to go on record as serving notice to the PPP that this Opposition leader and Members of Parliament will not be silenced, subtly bullied, nor will we sit and allow them to hijack the parliament and ignore the business of the people of this nation. Today is scheduled to be Private Members Day in Parliament. This day is allocated in the standing orders for the order of precedence to be given to private members business. A private member is a member who is not a Minister. The parliamentary rules also specifically exclude the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Parliamentary Secretaries from this designation. So in other words this is the day opposition business takes precedence. In the event there is no opposition business, Government business will be dealt with. What the PPP has done is ensure that our main business be placed on the shelf. Today we should have been debating the; No- confidence motions against the Ministers of Health & Home Affairs, a motion on the Gas to Shore project, A motion on Natural Gas Flaring at the Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited, A motion on the murders of the Henry boys (however you’d remember that just after we filed the motion, a few men were arrested and we were refused a debate because the matter was said to be before the court) then we had another motion in relation to the prisoner that was killed in the Lusignan prison. Instead of these substantive issues being addressed the Speaker and the PPP have reduced the Private Members Sitting to the Members of Parliament receiving written responses to questions that were asked of the Ministers by Members of the Opposition. The regime has sunk to another low by hijacking the rest of the sitting to deal with their business after 64 days without parliament. This is what you get when you have wicked and oppressive tyrants in power. Just a few days ago you had Ali addressing world leaders on the subject of democracy when he himself is a walking contradiction of what democracy really is, the PPP’S hypocrisy knows no bounds. They can attempt to hijack the parliament, they can run from addressing private members business all they want but they will never silence this opposition. Our matters will be addressed in this parliament and they will answer publicly for their poor governance, poor handling of the economy, and the sad state of affairs they’ve foisted upon the Guyanese people.”
