Dear Editor,
This is laziness by the opposition parties, plain and simple. To take a break from August 10 to October when this country has seen nothing of substance from the opposition in fixing and changing the laws of this country to bring fairness, justice, equality and decency to Guyana is absolutely unacceptable. It is even more egregious to take this break when it is common knowledge (confirmed by Joey Jagan) that the PPP apparatchiks are in snap election mode, desperately looking for an opportunity to call a new election. The only thing holding those who have hijacked the PPP party back is the fear of even bigger losses and a weaker minority government. I have maintained this opposition is terribly indolent and they are proving it in spades. The opposition has tendered one bill of its own in Parliament. It had nothing to do with corruption, crime, economic vicissitudes, racial politics and the gross imbalances of power in Guyana. It dealt with the Clerk of the National Assembly. There is no formal motion as yet on NICIL despite the opposition’s prolific outcry over NICIL. No investigations launched on crime, criminality, corruption, venality and the staggering costs of incompetence. Yet these elected representatives want a wonderful vacation for two months. I know the PPP legislators will benefit too, but the PPP does not care about changing this country. As far as they are concerned, Parliament should go on a five-year hiatus until the next election.
The PPP government has relentlessly challenged the opposition’s parliamentary moves in the courts. The opposition has done nothing to defend its positions. It has not brought a single case before the courts. It has not shown its willingness to resort to the courts to defend this country. It is almost nine months now since the election and it will be almost a year when Parliament reconvenes in October, and nothing of substance has been achieved. There have been marginal gains achieved by the people‘s struggle, not the actions of Parliament. At this rate, the PPP can afford to wait five years knowing that this opposition will not produce anything spectacular that shakes the foundations of this country in the right direction. During that time, the PPP will set the tune the opposition will dance to. This is a truly shameful performance by the opposition, which is making the listless PPP seem like an energized political entity. Instead of passing tough anti-corruption laws and handing them to the PPP, the opposition chooses to sit on PPP-organized debates on corruption, held by the very NCN that recently had one alleged incident of corruption involving its officials go unpunished by legal action.
A lazy opposition with a weak legislative agenda has no right to a parliamentary break. By no stretch of the imagination can anyone who voted for the opposition to create an opposition-controlled Parliament be happy with this inertia.
Those who see this long break from parliamentary action as necessary to fatten their wallets in their private professions should get out of politics and focus entirely on their businesses. They cannot collect parliamentary salaries, benefits and tax free concessions and still want to take prolonged breaks to tend to their own businesses while delaying the nation’s business. Our taxes are not paying PPP, APNU and AFC parliamentarians to spend more time behind their private affairs than in Parliament. I do not care that the PPP’s parliamentarians will benefit from this break too.
The PPP was not given a mandate by the majority to fix this nation. The opposition was. The opposition voted for this extended vacation. They hold the power to reduce the vacation. They are to blame for the lack of concrete change since the election. If the opposition passes a law which the PPP president opts not to sign, the political repercussions for the PPP are immense. The problem we face is the lazy opposition has not taken this country to this philosophical and psychological fork in the road and at this rate, never will.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
