Convening Parliament

EXPECTATIONS of Guyanese are running high as the 12th Parliament convenes shortly. The Eleventh Parliament, subsequent to an APNU+AFC victory in 2015, heralded a new dispensation where the incumbent government held a slim majority in the National Assembly. However, the Eleventh Parliament was an entirely new configuration because not two political parties made up the majority, but a coalition of several parties, which had become the new governmental construct, whilst the former PPP/C government structure consequently occupied the opposition benches.,

The 12th Parliament would be an entirely new configuration, because the PPP/C has a comfortable majority of 33 seats, acquired post-elections of March 2020. The PPP, collated with its civic component, enjoyed a successful partnership from the inception in October of 1992 after PPP Founder-Leader, the Iconic Dr. Cheddi Jagan had persuaded like-minded Samuel Hinds from the GUARD movement to coalesce with him in a bid to involve civil society’s stakeholders in the governance of a united nation under joint political/civil society leadership; and PM Sam Hinds rose to the task of nation-building in a partnership of enduring trust; not one of political expediency, as the APNU+AFC has proven itself to be.

The nation is hoping that the coalition opposition would decide to occupy their seats to use this forum for public debates and decision-making to give voice and developmental impetus that would redound, not only to the good of their own constituency, but for 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 current opposition’s dissent – and arguments thereto, would be recorded for posterity in the Hansard whereby, 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 extra-Parliamentary voices would be like chaff blowing in the wind and their constituents would have no power-based national lobbying forum.

This is the conundrum facing them. Their argument for a threatened boycott of Parliament is premised on their contention that the Irfaan Ali-led administration is a ‘de facto’ government because they claim that the general elections were fraudulent and massively rigged by GECOM in favour of the PPP/C, thus they argue that if they participate in any national event held under the aegis of a PPP/C administration, 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 the coalition parties that boycotting Parliament would be counter-productive to their oft-stated concern for their constituency.

At the convening of the 12th Parliament, His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali would be delivering his maiden address in Parliament as Head-of-State. This is history in the making because, for the first time in ten years, a PPP Executive President of Guyana will face the National Assembly with a depleted treasury and an entire country’s socio-economic paradigm to reconfigure and reconstruct.

However, the new Guyanese Head-of-State has had extensive exposure in the august House before facing the nation’s Legislative Assembly as President. His proven administrative capabilities will be illustrative of his Government’s pathways to prosperity, going forward; and definitely in the assurances he will assertively define to the nation – of a progressive aggregation of socio-economic benefits that will redound to the citizens of Guyana that will incrementally enhance lives and the quality of lives in the immediate and long-term future of Guyanese under PPP/C governance.

The nation is hoping that the contentious issues that dominated the considerations of the Eleventh Parliament would find common ground for debate. President Ali has indicated his intention to work with all stakeholders for the good of all Guyanese and his speech would most certainly prove to be conciliatory instead of confrontational and contentious, thus paving the way for consensual positions that would indubitably redound to the general good.
This nation needs to exhale in the refreshing air of the newly spruced-up city and its environs, as promised by Minister Nigel Dharamlall; and there is no better start to this new configuration than a coalition – not merely between governing parties, but between all leaders in the land.

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