No confidence, no Rohee

-opposition moves to block minister
in National Assembly

Opposition Leader David Granger yesterday called for the National Assembly to bar Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee from presenting any bills or partaking in any parliamentary business, saying it must stand by the no-confidence motion that was carried against him.

“In the absence of any opinion one way or the other, I don’t know that I could stop or encourage Rohee to speak,” Speaker Raphael Trotman finally said, having urged the government and opposition to move forward with the sitting, since he had sought advice on whether he had the power stop the minister from participating in the proceedings.

David Granger

At this point, Rohee rose and read the Firearms Amendment Bill 2012 for the first time. But while he read it, opposition members shouted “Rohee must go! Rohee must go!” while banging on the table and they said they did not hear the bill being read.

Clerk Sherlock Isaacs then stood up and read the Bill for the first time. But Deborah Backer said she did not hear the Bill being read by Rohee. The Speaker then explained that he asked the Clerk to read the Bill in the absence of a member of the government

Earlier, standing on a point of order as the minister was about to rise to present the Bill, Granger reminded the House of the passage of the motion of no-confidence against Rohee at the end of July.

“We must not allow our efforts to be disregarded,” he said, while taking umbrage at the government’s characterisation of the National Assembly as the most reckless in history because of the passage of the motion.

“We took a decision and the House has been the subject of contempt. We took a resolution and today we must demonstrate its seriousness in our decision making,” he said. “If the House declares no-confidence against the minister I urge that any matter in the name of the minister [be disallowed],” Granger said. “I urge that Clement Rohee not be allowed to speak in this House as Minister of Home Affairs.”

APNU MP Basil Williams said Rohee must not be allowed to lay any bill in the House because of the no-confidence motion passed against him. He added that it is well within the jurisdiction of the National Assembly to censure Rohee.

Commenting on the approach to the court the government has made in response to the no-confidence motion, Williams said sub-judice rule cannot operate in isolation.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in response to members of the opposition who said that the House had lost confidence in the minister, said that Rohee was not in the National Assembly on the basis of the Parliament’s confidence in him, but on the basis of being an elected member. “The National Assembly must not take precipitous steps and act in a manner that will prejudice the outcome of the court matter,” said Nandlall.

Gail Teixeira

Chief Whip for the government Gail Teixeira said the issue of censure and removal is different as stated in the motion. “Censure is a different thing, it doesn’t necessarily come from a motion of no-confidence.”

Teixeira added that there is a lot of misrepresentation on how a minister is removed and appointed. She said the comparisons with Trinidad Williams was trying to make would not be relevant to Guyana.

Teixeira said the House cannot censure a member for anything that member might have done outside the House. “The member must have committed something inside of the House. Despite all the passion of the members on the other side they are standing on sticky mud,” she said.

AFC MP Khemraj Ramjattan said he had cause to quote Diana Woodhouse on ministerial responsibility. “It is an application of a convention that is across the Commonwealth. Minister Rohee as a matter of the arithmetic of the Assembly has a no-confidence motion disfavouring him as a minister. Motions ought to be respected in this House. The government, in their arrogance, is indicating that they do not want to respect the motion. This minister seems to want to pay absolutely no heed,” Ramjattan said.

“When a no-confidence was done against a minister in the Lok Sabha, he walked. It does not follow that he has to be fired by the President,” said Ramjattan. “[Rohee] has no right to be here based on the passage of that motion,” he said.

Speaker Trotman said, “A Bill is to be introduced… and the leader of the opposition raised an objection. I have gone through the Standing Orders and I am not certain of what powers I have to prevent anyone from introducing any Bill.

I have sought advice and I am not prepared to make a ruling in the absence of this advice,” said Trotman.

Ramjattan responded that Rohee must not be allowed to speak until either the Speaker gets his advice or the court rules on the issue.

“How can this House remove the rights of members in the House?” Teixeira demanded fierily. “One cannot remove the member’s rights to due process. This is unacceptable; that this House, by undemocratic majority rule, is not allowing the member to read the Bill…. You will be proven to be wrong and you will eat crow in this House. I am warning you that you will eat crow in this House!”