Parliament Office yesterday announced that next Thursday’s scheduled sitting of the National Assembly has been postponed to a date to be fixed.
The postponement follows a request by the government to enable its Members of Parliament (MPs) to travel abroad for conferences.
The government holds only a one-seat majority in the Assembly and none of its motions would potentially pass in the house if it was short of MPs at any sitting.
The opposition PPP, in a statement yesterday, lambasted the request for the postponement. It said that the late announcement by the government on Thursday that it had requested the rescheduling of the sitting exposed the coalition government’s “whimsical regard” for the National Assembly and its business.
“Clearly, the government has placed their overseas travels above the National Assembly. With their one seat majority and their frequent flying is this an indication that few will be the sittings of the National Assembly?” it questioned.
The PPP, however, suggested that the request to postpone the sitting was to avoid the debate on the opposition’s motion calling for the annulment of the September 25th Order No.16 which gave the Ministers, Members of the National Assembly and Special Offices exorbitant salary increases.
“The Government Ministers having collected the increased salaries backdated to July 1, 2015 seem to have developed cold feet at this time to debate and defend their own exorbitant salary increases in the legislature.
“Not surprising, we have just learnt that the Speaker has granted the Government’s request. Unfortunately the Guyanese citizens who have been anxiously awaiting the debate and the response of the government at the November 12th sitting will have to continue to wait for an unspecified sitting,” it said
