EXPECTATIONS of Guyanese are running high as the 11th Parliament convenes today. 

The Tenth Parliament heralded a new dispensation where the incumbent Government held a minority seating in the National Assembly. However, the Eleventh Parliament is an entirely new configuration, because not two political parties make up the majority, but a coalition of several parties, which has become the new governmental construct, whilst the former government structure would now occupy the Opposition benches.
The nation is hoping that the Opposition would decide to occupy their seats to use this forum for public debates and decision-making that would give voice and developmental impetus that would redound, not only to the good of their own constituency, but the benefit of the entire nation.
The National Assembly is a powerful lobbying forum; and even if there are calls for voting on a particular issue, the PPP/C’s dissent, and arguments thereto, would be recorded for posterity in the Hansard; whereas if they forego this opportunity for lobbying for their concerns to be addressed at the foremost platform for national issues, the National Assembly, it is likely that their voices would be like chaff blowing in the wind, and their constituents would have no power-based lobbying forum.
This is the conundrum facing them. Their argument for boycotting Parliament is premised on their contention that the Granger administration is a ‘de facto’ government, because they claim that the general elections were fraudulent and rigged by GECOM in favour of the coalition; thus they argue that if they participate in any national event held under the aegis of the incumbent, they would be giving legitimacy to what they believe is an illegal governmental construct.
On the other hand, unless they occupy their allocated seats, the voices of their supporters would be effectively silenced in the highest law-making forum in the land.
The PPP leaders have always reminded Guyanese of their long tradition of putting the general good of the nation above any other consideration, and one hopes that this would be the defining factor that would convince them that boycotting Parliament would be counter-productive to the struggle they are currently waging.
Today, President Granger would, for the first time, be addressing Parliament. This is history in the making, because no other Executive President of Guyana has faced the National Assembly with his maiden speech in Parliament. Every other Guyanese Head-of-State has had extensive exposure in the august House before facing the nation’s Legislative as a President. However, the nation is hoping that the contentious issues that dominated the considerations of the Tenth Parliament would find common ground for debate, and that the President’s speech would be conciliatory instead of confrontational , thus paving the way for consensual positions that would redound to the general good.
This nation needs to bask in the refreshing air of the newly spruced-up city and its environs; and there is no better start to this new configuration than a coalition, not merely between governing parties, but among all leaders in the land.