Region Four Chairman Clement Corlette says Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman should be made to recall his ruling lifting the gag-order on Home Minister Clement Rohee and have Parliament amend the standing orders to give effect to its intentions on the matters at hand.
In a press release issued yesterday, Corlette said the move seems to be an attempt to mitigate the constant intrusion of the court into the business of the National Assembly at the behest of the government and by extension the legal arm of the executive.
“As I understand the exercise of Democratic Power or authority, any motion or policy order made at a lawful meeting of a statutory body is enforceable by the management of the given statutory body,” Corlette said. For example, a motion or policy order approved at a statutory meeting or at a special meeting of a Municipal Council, a Regional Council or a Local Government Council is enforceable by the management of the organisation or agency. “It is therefore difficult to accept that the Speaker is attempting to portray a position that the National Assembly rules or standing orders have no provision to enforce a decision by motion or policy order against a member of the National Assembly, moreover, a member of the Government side of the house,” the release said.
Corlette said he believes that Trotman exposed his inadequacies of leadership when he revealed that he consulted with officials from other parliaments. “He referred to England which by the way was the last of the oppressive masters to have ruled over our people. He also mentioned having contacted the Australian Parliament,” he said, adding that to obtain information on what obtains in the Parliament of former colonial power is most retrograde and insulting to the people of Guyana.
The regional chairman further contended that seeking advice from foreign parliaments cannot assist this nation because the Guyana National Assembly is fractious and partisan with the PPP/C MPs only displaying arrogance and contempt for the Opposition MPs.
According to Corlette, the fact that most MPs voted to register no confidence in a government minister under whose purview a specific portfolio falls is an indication that that minister should no longer be tasked with the responsibility of the portfolio. Also, since the government seats in the National Assembly are less than the Opposition, it is the duty of the “government to work for the respect and co-operation of the opposition to resolve differences.”
The Government seems resolved to use the High Court as an unsanctioned house of upper parliament in an effort to overrule decisions of the elected National Assembly, he said.
