…over army remark

Government MPs are moving to discipline PNCR-1G Parliamentarian Deborah Backer for what has been termed her unfortunate remarks on the Guyana Defence Force during a sitting of the National Assembly last week and have tabled a motion in the House disassociating themselves from the statements.

Deborah Backer

Finance Minister Ashni Singh rose yesterday in Parliament to say that government does not endorse the statements and he called on members of the House to find Backer in contempt of the Assembly “for her offensive statements she made as it relates to the disciplined services being deployed overseas”.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran yesterday found that a prima facie case has been made out against the PNCR-1G Parliamentarian and he has referred the matter to the Committee of Privileges which addresses the issue of disciplinary action against members of the Assembly. Ramkarran also disclosed that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds wrote him on the matter yesterday, but that he was unable to forward the letter to Backer because it arrived late in the morning.

Since the People’s National Congress Reform-1G (PNCR-1G) boycotted Parliament yesterday Backer was absent and the Speaker said he received no reason for her absence or that of her colleagues on the PNCR-1G benches.

During his brief presentation yesterday Singh had referred to Backer’s statement as including an assertion that the army was going overseas to torture people. Parliamentarian Backer is a PNCR-1G front bencher with responsibility for security.