– whether or not PPP/C takes up post

By Svetlana Marshall
WHETHER or not the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) decides to take up the post of Deputy Speaker, someone will be appointed, APNU+AFC Chief Whip Amna Ally told the Chronicle yesterday.

Ally said it is critical for the National Assembly to have both a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. After defeating the PPP/C during the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections, the APNU+AFC Government appointed Guyanese Attorney-at-Law and former diplomat, Dr. Barton Scotland as the Speaker of the National Assembly in June.

It is protocol for the Opposition to nominate the Deputy Speaker, and with the PPP/C being the only Opposition party in the House, it was expected that one of its

members would have been nominated for the position. But during his weekly press briefing on Monday, PPP/C General Secretary, Clement Rohee said the party has no interest in the post, and therefore is in no rush to nominate one of its members.
“If the PPP/C doesn’t want to take it up, it is going to be taken up,” Ally told this newspaper, adding that “we (the National Assembly) cannot continue like this.”

Ally, who also serves as the Minister of Social Cohesion, said when the time is right, the post will be opened for nomination, giving

the PPP/C an opportunity to nominate someone but if the party fails to nominate an individual, the APNU+AFC will make a collective decision to either nominate one of its members or a member of civil society. “If the PPP/C don’t want the position, it will be taken…because we believe in leadership,” Ally reiterated.

The Speaker of the House, Dr. Scotland, oversees the administration of the House and chairs a number of committees including the Parliament Management Committee. The Deputy Speaker replaces the Speaker when the latter is unavoidably absent. In the 10th Parliament, the late Deborah Backer and Attorney-at-Law Basil Williams, who is currently the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, served as Deputy Speakers.