THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) said it has noted the U-turn by the AFC/APNU from their initial position that the Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee should be removed from office because he was criminally responsible for the Linden shooting to that of non-performance during his tenure at the ministry.

The PPP, in a statement yesterday, noted that it has consistently maintained that the no confidence motion which the AFC/APNU used their one seat majority to pass was premature and prejudicial to the agreed Independent Linden Commission of Inquiry.
“However, even after this political misstep the AFC and APNU had the opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of the public by taking responsibility for their actions and in a principled manner apologise to the minister and withdrawing their motion following the revelations in the ongoing CoI that he was in no way responsible for the events which unfolded in Linden,” the PPP stated.
“Unfortunately, once again they refused to accept responsibility for their actions and have adopted a new position and an altogether new motion which has been publicized in the press to prevent the minister from speaking in the National Assembly,” the party added.
According to the PPP, this ongoing campaign against the minister is all “political gimmickry” by the AFC and APNU to distract their support base and the public at large from their embarrassing exposure during the ongoing Linden CoI, their ill conceived no confidence motion which was rendered impotent by their very own speaker and failure to address substantial issues in the National Assembly to advance the business of the nation.
Based on these facts, the PPP said it is rather hypocritical of the AFC, at their recent press conference, to talk about issues of ‘Parliamentary culture’ and ‘principle.’
“AFC and APNU need to tell the nation what principle and parliamentary culture they used to pass a no-confidence motion against the minister on their contentions that he was responsible for the Linden shooting without one shred of evidence and even more so, failure to produce evidence during the Linden CoI which the AFC claimed to have had in their possession at the time of their no-confidence motion against the minster,” the PPP chided.
The PPP said it is also concerned that despite the Speaker stating unequivocally that he is duty bound to rule that Minister Rohee must be allowed to speak, the AFC/APNU alliance have indicated that they will continue to disrupt the National Assembly.
Their behaviour at the last sitting which had to be abruptly adjourned owing to their refusal to heed the Speaker’s attempts to restore order undoubtedly breached parliamentary norms, the PPP contended.
The PPP said it is rather unfortunate that the AFC and APNU only indicate regard for parliamentary culture and principle when it conveniently suits their agenda.