–deems it ‘A Dark Day for Democracy’

AGAINST the backdrop of President Donald Ramotar prorogating Parliament on Monday, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has described the move as a “dark day for democracy”, expressing how “enraged” the Party is at the President’s proclamation.According to APNU, the “proclamation” which came Monday morning prior to a scheduled sitting of the National Assembly, “has effectively paralysed the parliamentary process and smothered the voices of the people’s legitimate representatives in the National Assembly.”

The Party further expressed that, “President Ramotar has now single-handedly engineered a constitutional crisis.
“ The main purposes of the ‘Proclamation’ are to allow the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to avoid parliamentary scrutiny while it attempts to prevent debate on the Opposition ‘no-confidence’ motion, prevent the holding of local government elections, prevent debate on financial excesses and impropriety, protect the reputations of his Ministers from parliamentary sanction; permit the PPP’s campaign for general and regional elections to proceed; and permit the continued expenditure of state funds without parliamentary scrutiny.”
Contending that they will not accept this “denial of democracy” and will not be “intimidated by the PPP/C’s dictatorial behavior”, APNU further stated that they are resolved to resist the President’s ‘Proclamation’.
As such, the party is calling on all the “good people of Guyana, everywhere, to join in a civil movement” for the restoration of parliamentary democracy by peacefully resisting the PPP/C’s resort to dictatorship and to call for the revocation of this ‘Proclamation’.
To this extent APNU lamented that the prorogation is an “affront to the Guyanese people” who, three years ago, in November 2011, voted for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) to have the majority of seats in the National Assembly.

(Ravin Singh)