VICE President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has shut down claims by the opposition that the government deliberately delayed the swearing in of the Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party.
Such assertions, Dr Jagdeo said, are “garbage” since it is a long-standing parliamentary tradition that all Members of Parliament first take their oath of office before the Speaker convenes a separate session for the opposition to elect its leader.
“There is no opposition leader elected yet,” he clarified.
“They have to go through a process, through a selection or voting process, to determine who will be the next opposition leader,” according to Dr Jagdeo.
He said in 2020, during Aubrey Norton’s tenure, the process took a month because the opposition could not reach a consensus.
“WIN misleadingly told their people that today the opposition leader would be sworn in, and somehow that it is a conspiracy of the People’s Progressive Party not to have that done. That’s all garbage. They peddle that a lot, misinformation,” he stated, when questioned by members of the media on the sidelines of the 13th Parliament at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
Dr Jagdeo also spoke about the misinformation surrounding Mohamed, who is now an elected Member of Parliament (MP) in the National Assembly.
He has been indicted by a United States grand jury on multiple charges, including money laundering, wire fraud and mail fraud.
“It’s not the PPP, not a single person in the PPP who indicted him. The U.S. prosecutors went to a grand jury and the grand jury indicted him on serious charges”, he explained.
He reiterated that holding public office offers no immunity from criminal prosecution.
“There’s no immunity as a Member of Parliament, even as Opposition Leader”, he said, rejecting the idea that Mohamed’s swearing in could influence his legal troubles.
The vice president stressed that the government has acted fully within the constitutional timeframe for reconvening the 13th Parliament, noting that the opposition’s repeated attempts to “play the victim” will not gain public sympathy.
“It’s not going to work”, he said firmly before stating, “They will learn.”