…Min. Lawrence dismisses Jagdeo no-confidence motion

MINISTER of Public Health and Chairman of the People’s National Congress/Reform, Volda Lawrence, has assured that the coalition is strong and united even as she dismissed as idle a no-confidence motion tabled against the government by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagdeo’s minority party in the House does not have the votes to successfully pass such a motion. In the 10th Parliament, a similar motion was brought against the PPP’s minority government led by Donald Ramotar by then AFC MP Moses Nagamootoo, but before the motion was allowed, the then President prorogued Parliament. He was heavily criticised by both citizens and the diplomatic community, forcing him to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections, which he lost in May 2015.

“My fellow Guyanese, please do rest assured that the coalition government stands strong and united and is well prepared to withstand Bharrat Jagdeo’s idle rantings and no-confidence motion,” Lawrence said in a Facebook post Thursday evening.

Jagdeo announced at a news conference during the day that he submitted a no-confidence motion Thursday to the parliament against the government because of a poor track record in office. “APNU in the last government submitted a no- confidence motion against the Ramotar-led administration and they used several reasons to say that they have lost confidence in the government, and that the government should not continue.”

The opposition leader said that APNU had, back then, stated that the then PPP government was spending too much money and over the three years in office ANPU had to cut $90 billion from the budget. “So they claimed that the Ramotar- led administration had illegally restored the budgets for the Amerindian development fund, for hinterland airstrips, for the One Laptop Per Family, for school vouchers. Imagine, they filed a no-confidence motion against us because of this,” Jagdeo said.

He continued: “They then claimed that $4 billion given to GuySuCo was done in breach of procedures, not that the money was stolen, but they had procedurally made an error and should not have given the $4 billion to GuySuCo.”

Further, Jagdeo said the then APNU opposition claimed that monies were illegally held in semi-autonomous agencies like GGMC, and the Guyana Forestry Commission, amongst others that should have been paid over into the consolidated fund, although those funds were created by Acts of Parliament. Additionally, he said APNU had claimed there was corruption at the CJIA airport and corruption in the Marriot Hotel project.

Focussing on some of the things the PPP will be using in its no-confidence motion, Jagdeo said since the APNU government took office 30,000 jobs have been lost and the entire sugar industry is decimated. “This government has increased taxes by $60 billion, although it came into office with a promise to reduce taxes. It broke its promise to the people of Guyana; it came into office on a promise of creating more jobs; we lost 30,000, they came into office on a promise to lower taxes but raise it; came into office on a promise to lower cost of living, they have increased water rates, they have VAT on electricity, on water; they have refused to reduce excise tax on fuel and I can go on and on,” Jagdeo said.

Jagdeo’s record
Jagdeo, who ruled Guyana for 12 years, was accused of leading a repressive government. Commentators have said that during his tenure there were heightened allegations—some not without justification of racial tensions and conflicts, groups targeted for exclusion based on geography, political association, and identity. Imbalances in budgetary allocations and resources directed to, or taken away from, regions where the government under his leadership did not control, were noted.

Additionally, the narco-economy was allowed to flourish, which Professor Clive Thomas noted represented a significant percentage of the economy. The criminalised state was also coined, because in addition to the narco-economy, corruption was pervasive, Thomas had said. Transparency International ranked Guyana the most corrupt Caribbean English-speaking country, a shame and stigma that require much work to remove. During that period under Jagdeo, when hundreds of dead bodies were turning up all over the place, Dr Roger Luncheon famously described the carnage as being done by “phantom” squads. Later, it was learnt that the government’s hands were bloody.

Moreover, dissent and alternative views were not treated as a right or opportunity to engage or review. There exist several anecdotes. Notably among them is Mrs Jagan who was publicly demeaned for disagreeing with Jagdeo’s policy of withdrawing government advertisements from Stabroek News for its reportage.