– former Speaker backs Nagamootoo
– says constitution doesn’t require him to do so

FORMER Speaker of the National Assembly and Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran has come out in support of Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s views that he cannot be unelected from the House as is being contemplated by the opposition.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at last Friday’s sitting of the House contended that the prime minister cannot be acting president and still sit in the National Assembly; and said he intends to raise the matter fully today during consideration of the budgetary estimates.
Asked for his comments on the matter on Sunday, Ramkarran, a former PPP executive said: “The prime minister is correct; it is only if a minister is appointed to perform the functions of the president that the minister has to vacate his parliamentary seat while he is performing the functions of the president.

“The article in the constitution requires a minister, if appointed, to vacate his seat. It does not require the prime minister, if similarly appointed, to do so.”

Minister Nagamootoo himself has accused Jagdeo of attempting to sow seeds of discord among the citizenry in an attempt to block passage of the government’s $300.7B budget.
“I want to put that in context for the Guyanese people to know that the deviousness is what we see playing out; that they’re trying to first divide members of this government and set us up against each other; and then when you believe, as a throwback, as a fallback, you’re now asking for the removal from the House of the prime minister,” he said.
“Because, the intention is to first defeat the $300.7B Budget; to lock down the government; to create a constitutional crisis; and to breathe disaffection and rebellion among the people of this country. “It is diabolical, and it has to be met squarely. It has to be answered; it has to be defeated,” the prime minister, who is also Leader of the House told the National Assembly late Friday.

A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT
He further explained that the constitution provides for the prime minister to be leader of government business in the House, first vice-president and principal adviser to the president.

He said, too, that the president, in or out of Guyana, could authorise the prime minister to carry out “certain functions”, which could be “any function.”
“The prime minister, performing any functions, one or more, has never been invited to vacate his membership of the National Assembly.

“The constitution provides that the president is elected, and once elected, he always remains the president until he is un-elected.

“The prime minister is an elected member of the National Assembly, and I cannot ipso facto un-elect myself. In fact, I cannot act on bad advice to un-elect myself,” Minister Nagamootoo was quoted by Demerarawaves as saying.

Jagdeo had said in his presentation that the prime minister is “squatting” in the National Assembly, as the constitution clearly states that when a minister is performing presidential duties, or has assumed the office, his or her seat in the National Assembly should be regarded as vacant, and should be temporarily filled until the period expires.
According to Jagdeo, the constitution makes provision for the president’s absence from Guyana due to illness or any other cause, whereby he or she can authorise any Cabinet member to perform presidential functions.

Said he: “We have had this prime minister come here over and over, when he is acting as president, in violation of our constitution; squatting in the Parliament, contrary to the practice of the past, and we have allowed this to happen.
“We plan, Mr. Speaker, to raise this on Monday when we come to consider the estimates; his presence will not be missed in the House.”

NO BASIS
In response to the foregoing charges, PM Nagamootoo said that the opposition leader has no basis upon which to rest his personal contention and therefore made a “feeble” attempt to “invoke the constitution.”

He also called out Jagdeo for certain remarks made in the House, which he supposed was done in anticipation of the failure of the no-confidence motion to stand.

“I heard the leader of the opposition, in what must be an act of sustained desperation in which you could see not only the perspiration but the fear and the uncertainty… wants to charge the government with issuing threats to members of the Parliament,” he said, adding:

“It is only a diabolical mind that would conjure up allegations of that type against honourable members of this House. And to impute that because there was a motion of no- confidence tabled in this House that attempts would be made to deal with members of the government side who dare to support such an unpopular motion.”
Today’s sitting of the National Assembly will result in the scrutiny of the 2019 budgetary estimates, which contain specific programmes and initiatives proposed by the government for the year ahead.

The budget under debate remains the largest to date at $300.7B, and was first presented to the National Assembly on November 26, 2018.