Dear Editor
THE recent incident in the National Assembly, in which People’s Progressive Party/Civic Member of Parliament Harry Gill sought to attack the Speaker on his professional duties of Speaker of the National Assembly, and even on a personal basis, is another incident in the line of its disrespect for the rules and procedures that guide the functions of this most important institution.

It reflects and undermines the immoral mindset of a party that, for its over two decades in office, became an exponent in the practice of the arrogance of power. But even when in office, with all the power that such an advent holds for the executive holders of such, it is still incumbent that the Speaker’s conduct of any Assembly, inclusive of Guyana’s, be respected. And this is where one must give kudos to the current David Granger-led administration.

Of course, there have been times during the intensity of House debates when the Speaker has had cause to caution government speakers. Such chiding has always been accepted in the best tradition of the House’s protocols.

But not the PPP/C. I am sure that the disgraceful conduct of one of their leading MPs are still fresh in the nation’s memory. This particular act, disrespectful to the core, as well as being an affront to the exalted person of the Speaker, brought to the nation the gravity of the depths to which this opposition party would go to fabricate dangerous lies. Who could forget the shouts of “Rape! Rape!” that resonated in the chambers of the National Assembly, or the ridiculous and atrocious claim from a leading female MP of suffering a blow to her body. The latter was the subject of satire on last year-end’s Stretch Out Magazine.

Such acts are an extension of the resistance of the PPP/C to the advent of the coalition government, and a continuous exercise of defiance to rules and convention. It is a political immaturity that does no good to the image of a party which has been in existence for over 60 years.

It is time that the Speaker uses his considerable powers in ensuring that the Rules of the National Assembly are not compromised, and his person, by extension, is not disrespected.
Thus, the decision by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee is seen as the first step in curbing such desecrations.

Yours
Dillon Goring