SO the parliamentary opposition has voted down the Firearms (Amendment)

Bill, stating unambiguously that the reason for doing so is because it was piloted by the Home Affairs Minister and that they want to send a message to the Executive that Mr Rohee cannot remain in office.
Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger,told media operatives that the move was meant to send a message to the executive arm of government.
“We took this action to demonstrate to the Executive that we are determined that he (Rohee) is not going to remain there.”
Granger said that regardless of the merits of the proposed legislation, it will not be approved by the opposition as long as it is piloted by Rohee.
“We will not approve any,” said Granger in relation to Bills presented and have been presented and await debate by the Minister of Home Affairs.
This reckless stance reflects an infantile mentality and borders on insanity and the reason why the opposition is in such a state of disarray. They have made it clear that it is not the message it is the messenger and resembles the line of reasoning of an idiotic columnist who writes for one of our daily newspapers.
This stance also reminds us of the Burnhamite line of reasoning in relation to the Labour Relations Bill which was brought to the Legislative Assembly by the PPP government in the early 1960s. According to the then Leader of the Opposition, L.F.S Burnham, the Bill was the occasion for the war and not the reason for the war (causus bellum causus beli), referring to the terror and mayhem that enveloped this country. The contents and merits of the Bill were not under question, instead it was used to create as the catalyst for causing mayhem and terror in an effort to destablise and remove the PPP government.
A similar tactic was used against President Janet Jagan when terror and mayhem were unleashed under the guise of not wanting a “white American” as president, even though Mrs. Jagan was more Guyanese than most Guyanese.
Therefore the position of the opposition is not a new one. Historically they have pushed aside the merits of an issue in order to further their political agenda, which for them is paramount to that of the interest of the people and country.
The opposition keeps harping on the crime situation, but when action is being taken to help combat it they are opposing it. That is how they behaved in the past and that is how they are behaving and that is how they will behave in the future if they survive that long.
This is not surprising though because the opposition have long been in bed with the criminal world. We would all remember the hero’s funeral that was given by the PNC to “Blackie” London when his coffin was draped in the national flag and a former party leader attended the funeral.
In the 1960s we would all recall the infamous X-13 criminal and terror plan that was hatched by the PNC, which fortunately was unearthed before it was implemented.
What is ironic is that the crime situation in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago is worse than in Guyana; but no one is hearing the opposition in those countries calling for their respective Home Affairs Ministers to resign.
The trouble here is that the opposition is having a difficult time finding issues on which to criticise the government and are therefore desperately trying to invent issues. Unfortunately, they are doing an extremely poor job at this and therefore are like circus clowns entertaining their audience.
Where else in the world would one find a political opposition that opposes a piece of legislation not because of merits or demerits, but because of who piloted it and to send a message to the Executive?
But the opposition should be cautioned that the Guyanese people are keenly watching their antics, including their own supporters, and have already made some interesting conclusions or would soon do so and when the right time arrives those conclusions will be revealed.