THE People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has said noting that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has resurrected its concern for collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of the state.

A statement from the PPP/C noted that such concern comes under the guise of attempts to lay blame at the doorstep of the PPP/C Government for the travesty to which the APNU and AFC alliance has reduced the National Assembly.
“It is quite interesting that the APNU, in a press release and dossier compiled by Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, would seek to accuse the PPP, and by extension the Government, of impeding the work of the National Assembly,” the release stated.
Nevertheless, the PPP/C is calling on APNU and Mr. Granger to inform the nation as to who were responsible for the Speaker being forced to abandon the business of the Assembly on two occasions recently, because of rowdy and crass behaviour.
On the issue of collaboration between the executive and legislature, the release noted that the nation will also be reminded that it was Mr. Granger himself who reneged on an agreement with Government on the Linden electricity issue. Despite this, Government went ahead and honoured the commitments it made during those negotiations with the APNU leadership.
According to the PPP statement, it was also the APNU, with support from the AFC, who passed a no-confidence motion against Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee on the basis that he issued orders to the police to open fire on protestors in Linden.
“The evidence so far provided to the Commission of Inquiry does not support that position.  Instead of an apology, the APNU/AFC continued their relentless efforts to attack the Minister and gag him in the National Assembly,” the PPP declared in its press release.
It was confident that the nation will not forget the travesty of the first sitting of the 10th Parliament on January 12, where, using their combined one-seat dictatorship in the National Assembly, the APNU and AFC broke traditional parliamentary convention and elected AFC leader Raphael Trotman as Speaker, and Mrs. Deborah Backer of APNU as Deputy Speaker.
The motion by the PPP/C — which had 32 seats — for a return of veteran Speaker Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, who was openly praised by both opposition parties for his work in the previous Parliament, was defeated.
“The National Assembly is still suffering the effects of the decision of the AFC/APNU to use their one-seat dictatorship to establish new rules on the composition of the parliamentary committees, giving themselves a majority of seats on all committees,” the release stated.
The PPP/C had proposed a system closest to the elections results of 5 seats for the Government and 5 seats for the combined opposition, 4 for APNU and 1 for AFC, as against their demand of 4 for the PPP/C (with 49.3% of the electorate), 4 for the APNU (with 40% of the electorate) and 1 for the AFC (10.3 % of the electorate).
According to the release, the above proposal was rejected; and by their vote, the Government’s representation on all committees, which the Standing Orders provided for “no less than 6 or no more than 10 members”, was now reduced to a minority.
“The combined opposition parties now have a disproportional representation on the 9-member committees of 54 % , which they neither individually (40% APNU with 26 seats and 10% AFC with 7 seats) nor collectively attained at the polls; and the Government has 40 % of the representation on the committees, which is below its 49.2% of the polls,” the release stated.
In addition, the release stated that the AFC/APNU continued in their efforts to attack the Government in Parliament when, on March 13, 2012, the Speaker proceeded to hold the first meeting of the appointed committees to elect the chairpersons, which other than those chaired by the Speaker himself, became controlled by the APNU, the major opposition party.
However, although the Speaker and/or the APNU now control the chairmanship of these committees, few are functioning.
The PPP/C, through its release, noted that the Public Accounts Committee commenced summoning government agencies to answer with regard to the Auditor General’s 2010 Public Accounts Report only in October 2012. In the meantime, the Auditor General’s 2011 Public Accounts Report was tabled in the House.
The release also pointed to the massive 2012 budget cuts of over 20 billion dollars, which affected several ministries and programmes.
“Despite the High Court ruling in the Government’s favour, stating that the Opposition-controlled National Assembly acted outside its constitutional remit in imposing the cuts to the 2012 Budget, the AFC/APNU continued their dictatorial, strong-arm tactics by continuing to sabotage Government’s programmes when the Minister of Finance returned to the House requesting approval for expenditures under supplementary provisions, in keeping with the court order,” it stated.
The release highlighted that the list of assaults against Guyana’s Constitution and the PPP/C Government by the AFC and APNU alliance in the National Assembly continues, and no amount of misinformation by the joint opposition will cloud this reality.
The PPP/C insists that it remains determined to protect the nation against these assaults and unmistakable streaks of dictatorial tendencies creeping back into Parliament.
According to the release, also of interest is the fact that despite its latest attack on the government regarding the content and character of reports on the issues inside the National Assembly by the Government Information Agency (GINA), the APNU has not once in its press release stated that the information provided was not factual.
“This is a clear admission of responsibility on the part of APNU.  The PPP totally rejects the APNU’s charges,” the release stated.
Presidential Advisor on Governance and Government Chief Whip, Ms Gail Teixeira, last Friday announced that the Government has prepared a briefing on the subversion of parliamentary democracy by the opposition, which is being distributed to various international organisations.
The 32nd sitting of the National Assembly will take place tomorrow, and Teixeira also advised that the Government would be calling for a sitting on December 20. The Speaker and the combined opposition have already been so informed.