– Ruling party’s objections on composition of committees, denial of consent for supplementary expenses, warrant decisions – HPS
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon said government is anticipating a “quite interesting” sitting of the National Assembly today during which the issue of the composition of parliamentary committees comes before the House in the form of a motion to be moved by the ruling party. “The next sitting, on March 15 (today), is expected to be quite interesting in relation to the forthcoming decision of the Speaker and the opposition parliamentary political parties in response to the studied objections by the governing PPP/C, and specific decisions being made in parliament,” Dr. Luncheon told reporters.
The HPS, speaking at his regular post-Cabinet media briefing, disclosed that the ruling party is questioning how the opposition alliance will deal with the governing party’s pronounced sentiments against the disproportionality in a composition of the committees that have being spawned in the 10th Parliament.
The HPS told the media that another interesting question is what would the combined opposition say as the final resolution of their denial of authorisation of legitimately contracted supplementary expenditures in 2011 that were tabled by the Minister of Finance?
“These, among other questions, deserve worked decisions, and the likelihood of the March 15 meeting being the occasion for providing further evidence of the intent and of what and how the parliamentary opposition intends to engage in their contributions to cooperation and collaboration with the governing  PPP/C,”  the HPS went on to state.
He said government is of the view that those matters will be pronounced on, and their decisions will be of interest to all Guyanese.
Government has expressed disappointment and astonishment at the events that unfolded during the last sitting of the National Assembly on February 16, which saw the opposition’s refusal to approve four aspects in Financial Paper Number 7 for supplementary provisions on Current and Capital Estimates.
The combined opposition had also requested that Financial Paper Number 8 be amended and resubmitted to the House to allow for more transparency, since, according to opposition members,  the details of the project were not specified.
The governing party continues to insist that there could be no question of the details of the foreign-funded projects, for which the provisions are sought, not being transparent, as the information required can be found on the websites of the donor agencies and government.
The government has deemed the opposition parties’ move as the coming together of APNU and the AFC to withhold approving expenditure that was incurred from the Contingencies Fund in accordance with the law.
Government has also argued that the expenses were incurred in delivering goods and services to the Guyanese people, and that the actions of the combined opposition are calculated to stymie the legitimate work of the administration.
The ruling party has since indicated its intention to move to the High Court, as well as parliament, by way of a motion to confront what it deems as wrongdoings by the parliamentary opposition.
The last sitting of the National Assembly was bound by gridlock, as both the opposition and the ruling party did not come to a consensus on the financial papers.
This saw Deputy Speaker of the House, Deborah Backer, requesting time to inform herself and carefully study her decision.
However, after the last sitting, discussions have since been held with both parties on the way forward.