AS Guyana prepares to go into the 11th Parliament with elections slated for May 11, Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon said that for most Guyanese, the 10th Parliament was a disappointment given the achievements made over the last two terms under the Bharrat Jagdeo Government.During an appearance on NCN’s ‘Political Scope’ programme on Sunday, Dr. Luncheon said it was disappointing for the PPP/C Administration, as well as all Guyanese.

“It was kind of a disappointment in retrospect. One might ask the question, did we expect too much in the context of the novelty of the 10th Parliament? You would recall that in the 10th Parliament, for the first time in the legislative history in the post- independent Guyana, we had a governing party without a plurality in Parliament.”

Dr. Luncheon pointed out that the hybrid Westminster model Guyana inherited has been continuing. It has been something new to Guyana, and impacting on the country’s development.
“The PPP/C Government did not have a plurality in Parliament, and that novelty was so impactful on the developments in the 10th Parliament that I would not hesitate in saying more than any other factor it has contributed to what seems practically unalterable, the early demise of the 10th Parliament.”
He added that under this new one-seat majority, the Opposition somehow did not have a clear understanding of the separation of powers.
“Fundamental to Parliamentary democracies, the Constitution, whether written or unwritten and some clear understanding about separation of powers, somewhere along the line the Opposition in the 10th Parliament totally misconstrued and this is notwithstanding effort at all conceivable level to correct this misconception, but they held fast to this misconception about separation of powers and they acted,” Dr. Luncheon said.
As a result, Dr. Luncheon said the Opposition’s entire thesis was that the Parliamentary one-seat majority essentially replaced the Executive Government.
He added that though they themselves recognised the inherent fallacy of that argument, they found irresistible the lure that they imagine that they had where power was concerned and inevitably parliamentary gridlock arose, and along the way, the goodwill, the ambitions and expectation of citizens were frittered away.
“…And President (Donald) Ramotar had no option but at the penultimate moment to make that decision that sees us ultimately going into May 11 General and Regional elections.”
Nonetheless, in going forward, the Cabinet Secretary said the experiences of the 10th Parliament cannot be totally rejected, abandoned and discounted.
“I want to believe that inherent in those experiences are the chords of what is needed to take this country on its new trajectory,” he posited.
In essence, Dr. Luncheon said he sees the 11th Parliament and the definitive approach to the resolution to those issues that languished in the 10th Parliament and will turn up in the 11th Parliamentary agenda to be dealt with by the representatives of the people who are elected, to be one of the foremost objectives of the 11th Parliament.
“…moving forward we have to embrace additional resources, human resources, technology, in propelling Guyana forward, and to the extent that there are elements and segments in our society that are not maximally involved in this effort in the development of Guyana, they have to be brought onboard,” he added. (GINA)