A New and United Guyana (ANUG) has called for the removal of Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Nigel Dharamlall after he told an opposition parliamentarian that she needed a “dildo” during a parliamentary sitting last week.
ANUG, which is one of three parties sharing a seat in the National Assembly, said such behaviour has no place among the leadership of the country.
“A New and United Guyana calls on the President to remove the dishonourable Minister of local government and regional development from office. He has no place among the leadership of our country,” the party said in a statement on Saturday in reaction to Dharamlall’s comment.
Dharamlall made the statement during the Committee of Supply’s consideration of the budget estimates for Region Five last Wednesday.
He has since said he was provoked by the opposition parliamentarians, including APNU+AFC Member Sherod Duncan, who was subsequently suspended after interrupting the proceedings to condemn the minister.
Dharamlall’s fellow PPP/C members as well as Speaker Manzoor Nadir have been criticised for failing to sanction him for the comment.
In its statement, ANUG said it was clear from the video recording of the proceedings that Dharamlall’s outburst was spontaneous. “When an outburst is made so viscerally and instinctively, that moment of honesty reveals much of the nature of the man, and reflects not on the person he was addressing, but on himself,” it said, while adding that his vulgarity was reminiscent of another PPP minister’s misogynistic exchange with a female social activist some years ago.
“But it is worse. It is worse because the statement was made in the crumbling sanctity of our Parliament, where the nominees of the elected leaders congregate. It is worse because there was no response, no immediate and unequivocal condemnation, from Priya [Manickchand], from Oneidge [Walrond], from Vindhya [Persaud], from Gail [Teixeira] or from the men seated next to them. It is worse because the Speaker, who imposes discipline, actually sanctioned an opposition member who protested against Dharamlall’s crassness,” the party added.
