The newly sworn-in parliamentary opposition will work with the government once there is fidelity to promises made to the populace during the elections campaign, newly-appointed leader of the opposition Bharrat Jadgeo said yesterday.
“I think our country deserves this, to see maturity in this Parliament, decorum in this Parliament, that their business is done here,” Jagdeo, a former president, said in his first address as Opposition Leader to the National Assembly yesterday.
He spoke shortly after Speaker Dr Barton Scotland confirmed the appointment following his nomination and selection during a brief meeting attended by the Speaker, all opposition Members of Parliament and Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs. His appointment as Opposition Leader effectively makes him the unofficial leader of the PPP. With the PPP/C no longer holding the presidency of the country it is General Secretary Clement Rohee who should have been elected Opposition Leader. He, however is number two to Jagdeo in parliament.
In his brief address, Jagdeo said that there is a grave responsibility now on the shoulders of the opposition to ensure that the country continues to move forward, that benefits are delivered to the people and that the people experience a better life.
“We all have an obligation to the people of this country—on both sides of the House—to do so,” he said, while adding that the new opposition’s approach will be different from what occurred in the previous Parliament, where he noted that there was the cutting of programmes to the detriment of the services of the people and which led to economic activities
