— Min. Lawrence

THE government has confirmed that it is armed and ready with the facts to defend its track record and remains unfazed by the no-confidence motion tabled by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo in Parliament on Thursday.

“The idle rantings by Mr. Jagdeo will not scare any member of the coalition,” Minister of Public Health and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence said firmly on Friday.

“I want to indicate to him (Jagdeo) that this coalition, what we have shown, is that we are willing to investigate any matter which comes before us in regards to discrepancies or for which anyone would have broken the law. And we have shown that in the several Commissions of Inquiry (CoI) that we have had,” Lawrence, who was at the time speaking at a coalition press briefing, said.

She added that in comparison, under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Administration, there was none.
“We can point to many, many instances of corruption. As a matter of fact, under the Jagdeo Administration, corruption was the bread and butter of this country.”

Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson said the move by the opposition leader is simply a “delaying tactic” intended to find fault with the coalition’s track record.
“This government will never prorogue parliament. We got here by hard work and we will stand and defend our record every single day,” he said.