WHILE Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, is standing his ground that the ruling party attempted a “buy-out” of three Members of Parliament (MPs), many of his Party colleagues are saying differently. 

Up to yesterday, two AFC MPS, namely Ms Valeria Garrido-Lower and Mr. Trevor Williams, were on record as saying they were never approached by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) with any such offer.
At a press conference last Thursday, Ramjattan said his Party had been “reliably informed” that the PPP/C Government, against whom a No-Confidence Motion has been filed, has plans to “buy out” at least three parliamentarians, at $30M each, to vote against the Motion when it comes up for debate next month. Since that press conference, he has indicated that the MPs to whom he referred are from the main Opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

“It is an incontrovertible fact,” he told the Chronicle in a prior interview. “I am not going to reveal the source; I cannot do that,” he stressed.
Pundits in the political arena are now questioning the legitimacy of Ramjattan’s allegations, in light of the emphatic denial of such a proposal from his own Party’s MPs, as well as those from the main Opposition, APNU.
APNU Leader, Mr. David Granger, in commenting on the AFC Leader’s assertions, rejected them totally.

At an APNU press conference last Friday, he was emphatic in expressing his confidence that no APNU MP would fall prey to the alleged “buy out” by the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
Also, the APNU leader highlighted that he was unaware that there was even an offer to “buy out” MPs by the PPP.
“I don’t know who made it up, or where it came from,” the Opposition leader told reporters, adding that there has been no discussion between the People’s Progressing Party and APNU to hold off the no-confidence vote.
The National Assembly comes out of recess on October 10, and when a sitting is called, the no-confidence motion, tabled by the AFC, will be up for debate.
The first page of the Motion reads: “Be it resolved that this National Assembly has no confidence in the Government.”
If the Motion is passed, the current administration will be expected to be disbanded in preparation for a return to the polls.
As stated in Section 106 (6) of the Constitution: “The Cabinet and President shall resign, if the Government is defeated by the vote of the majority of all Members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence.”
This is made even clearer in Section 106 (7), which states: “Notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office, and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall, by resolution, supported by no less than two-thirds of all elected members of the National Assembly, and shall resign after a new President takes the oath of office following the election.”
The last time general elections were held in Guyana was in November 2011.

(By Vanessa Narine)