MINISTER of State Joseph Harmon on Sunday called on residents of Mocha, East Bank Demerara to denounce what he described as the “disgraceful behaviour” of that party in the National Assembly last week.

He also issued a public apology for the ruckus created by the opposition parliamentarians when they decided to protest President David Granger as he addressed the House on his Government’s plans and legislative programmes last Thursday. The 71st Sitting of the 11th Parliament was the scene of loud chants and placards unfolding before members of the Diplomatic Corps, Senior Government Functionaries and the world at large. The Opposition led by Bharrat Jagdeo, a former President, was protesting the President’s appointment of Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Their actions, however, were described as “disgraceful, awful and disgusting” by many who witnessed the protest in much disbelief.

On Sunday, while addressing scores of residents during an outreach at the Mocha Arcadia Primary School, Minister Harmon apologised for the unsavory behaviour displayed by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). “I apologise on behalf of the Government to you for that behaviour of the PPPC,” the State Minister told the residents, some of whom stood in solidarity with their placards calling out the Opposition Leader.

In the words of Minister Harmon, the Opposition took the country’s Parliamentary Democracy to the lowest level, emphasising that never before the country has witnessed such demonstration. “Never before have we seen that level of disrespect given to a Head of State, never!” Minister Harmon said while calling on citizens to denounce the actions of the PPP.

“This is not who we are as a people and I am saying that Jagdeo and his group will not define who we are as a people by that behaviour. We are civil people, we are hardworking people, we are respectful people and we will not allow Jagdeo and his small group of people to say to the rest of the world that this is the behaviour that is expected of Guyana,” the State Minister noted.

According to him, subsequent to 2015, pride was restored among Guyanese. “The PPP wants to damage that and that is what we have to defend. We have to defend it!” Minister Harmon told the cheering crowd. He said never again, such an incident should occur in Guyana. “I want to say to you, that this level of disrespect shown in the National Assembly, we are not accepting it, and we will not accept it.

“And all I am saying to you now, at the level of the RDCs, the NDCs, just look out for that kind of behaviour and stop it, stop it in its track. Do not allow that type of behaviour to trickle down to anywhere else because lawlessness, disorderliness…we have no place for that,” the State Minister told the Mocha Arcadia residents.

Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes, told the residents to be calm as she assured them that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNI+AFC) Government will continue to stand by the people of this country. After years of “oppression” and “depression,” the Junior Natural Resources Minister said she is pleased to see that Mocha Arcadia is now “going places.”

As the country progresses, she said citizens must also boost their intellectual capacities and technical capabilities, noting that residents must come to the realisation that “those dark days are gone.”