AFC agrees on Trotman, APNU undecided
WHEN the National Assembly convenes today the People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) will continue to support, Ralph Ramkarran as their choice for Speaker of the National Assembly, for the Tenth Parliament, as he has demonstrated impartiality and fairness in this position, which he has held for the past eight years.
President Donald Ramotar made this pronouncement yesterday during an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, as he sought to pronounce on reports, which indicate that the Opposition Parties, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) have decided to put forward, AFC member Raphael Trotman, as their candidate for speaker of the House.
President Ramotar said: “It is not official, but I have heard about it. As I said publicly before, Ralph Ramkarran has done an outstanding job as speaker of the National Assembly, under his leadership Parliament has really been transformed. He did a lot of work in improving the services of the Parliament. All parties which have been in Parliament before have praised him for his fairness in which he conducted the Parliament.”
In addition, the Head of State expressed pride at having Mr. Ramkarran as a member of the PPP/C, and reiterated his support for him, as “he has proven to be impartial and fair as a Speaker.”
“That is who the PPP has put forward and that is the only candidate that we have, we do not have any other candidate,” President Ramotar stressed.
According to a Demerara Waves report, the opposition parties, AFC and APNU, have reached agreement that Attorney-at-Law, Raphael Trotman would be Speaker of the National Assembly.
The report states that the APNU late Tuesday evening accepted Trotman, and in turn, AFC is expected to support Deborah Backer for the post of Deputy Speaker. 
The Guyana Chronicle was informed, by a source within the AFC that the party had approached the PPP/C to consider Nagamotoo for the post as Speaker, and their (PPP/C) candidate for Deputy Speaker, but the party refused and, as a result, the AFC conceded to have Raphael Trotman as their candidate, which the APNU members supported.
The source said as a result of APNU’s firm stance against Nagamootoo he withdrew and nominated Trotman.
The source also suggested that the AFC may move to block the passage of this year’s budget which could lead to the staging of “snap elections.” 
At press time last evening, Co-Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan confirmed that indeed Raphael Trotman was the party’s candidate for Speaker, but explained that this proposal has not yet been accepted by APNU.
“We can confirm that he is our choice after Moses Nagamootoo withdrew. APNU has not yet agreed and they are presently in a general council meeting having discussions,” he said.
A response from APNU was not possible as the party was locked in discussions on the issue

PPP/C Supports
Meanwhile, during a post Cabinet Press briefing, minutes after, at the Office of the President, Adviser to the President on Governance, Mrs. Gail Teixeira, acting in place of Dr. Roger Luncheon, pointed out that, in Commonwealth Parliaments, it is a practice and convention that the governing party normally gets the Speaker.
She explained: “In the last 100 years of the UK Parliament, there is only one instance of an opposition member becoming a Speaker of the UK parliament. If you look at New Zealand that has had historically minority governments, the Speaker has come from the governing party and I could go to many other examples in the Euro Zone, to Canada and Zambia… so there is a principle involved and we hold that principle. “

Blocking Legislative Agenda
In this regard, she expressed concern that the opposition parties, by insisting on their candidate for the appointment of Speaker, Raphael Trotman, will “use the opportunity to wreak havoc on the Parliament” and impede on the government’s business and their legislative agenda.
In reiterating the PPP/C‘s support of Ralph Ramkarran as Speaker of the House, she said: “We do not feel that in this Parliament, because we are in unchartered waters that we should throw out everything and come in with a bulldozer… and upturn everything considered normal parliamentary practices …we still are of the view that Ralph is the best and most competent person for the job, he has received many kudos as the former speaker from Trotman and the PNC, in the previous parliaments.”
Continuing, the Presidential Adviser highlighted that, another principle that should acknowledged is that, when there is a Speaker elect, that person retains that post until the moment of the elections and that in normal practice and convention, speakers generally are not changed unless they die, resign or they are given another post.
She maintained too that when a sitting speaker is up for re- election, it is normal practice that he/ she is then nominated without opposition, even in cases where there is symbolic opposition, it  generally goes through unopposed, this she asserted means that Mr. Ramkarran is the present Speaker elect at this time.
“We will go to Parliament and vote for him (Ralph Ramkarran) solidly, the opposition’s view in relation to Trotman, it is their right to have done that, but it is regrettable that cabinet took note and expressed their deep concern that parties who have talked about national unity and willingness to work … That despite the overtures of the President that they went ahead and conspired to try to ensure that the norms (in Parliament) were going to be overridden, “Teixeira stated.

Parliamentary Business
“We have a lot of work to do for this nation that must not be blocked from being implemented, the importance for the government, is getting the budget through and getting the business of the country through and ensuring that investments are going through and that economic stability, political stability are not undermined or reduced from what exists now,” Teixeira said, as she underscored the importance of Government support.
She said too that, indeed, the opposition parties will “try to use Parliament to their advantage”, but pledged that the PPP/C will do what is necessary, on behalf of the people, in the hope that Parliament will not become a forum for blocking the  government’s  work, as this would be counter productive to all parties.
The 10th Parliament would be convened today Thursday, at 14:00 hrs at Parliament Building.
President Donald Ramotar announced Monday night that the National Assembly will be convened on Thursday.
In a release, the Office of the President said “His Excellency, Donald Ramotar, President of Guyana, today issued the proclamation for the convening of Parliament on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 14:00hrs in the Parliament Chambers”. 
The Office of the President said the proclamation was issued in pursuance of Article 69 (1) of the Constitution.
When the National Assembly convenes today it would be the first time since 1992 that the opposition would be controlling the 65-seat legislature. 
The combination of the APNU and the AFC edged out the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic by one seat at the recently-held general and regional elections, APNU won 26 seats and the AFC seven to the PPP/C’s 32.