Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, on Tuesday disregarded a motion lodged by the Parliamentary Opposition seeking to establish a multi-stakeholder task force to address issues arising out of the Venezuela/Guyana border controversy.
Opposition Parliamentarian, David Patterson, during the 70th Sitting of the National Assembly, in putting forward the motion, sought a deferment of the National Assembly to treat the motion, which he described as a “definite matter of urgent public importance,” but the Speaker in his ruling said the issue at hand “was not urgent.”
The APNU+AFC Member of Parliament said the resolve clause, called on the government to immediately establish a multi-party, multi-stakeholder task force to address all aspects concerning safety and security arising out of the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy. He reminded that this was addressed in an earlier motion passed by the National Assembly that had dealt with the controversy in great detail.
But Nadir in response to Patterson said, “On November 6, when we debated and resolved, unanimously, in the National Assembly, one of the resolve clauses called for deepening engagement among all national stakeholders on issues relating to sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, particularly, within the context of the meetings of the bipartisan ministerial advisory committee on the Guyana/Venezuela controversy. So, that has a lot of similarity with your resolve also.”
In handing down the ruling, the Speaker of the National Assembly alluded to a 2008 ruling by former Speaker of the House, Ralph Ramkarran, in which it was stated that a motion similar in nature to one already resolved in the House cannot be deliberated upon during the same session.
It was against this background that Nadir referenced Ramkarran’s ruling to substantiate his decision to block the motion. But Patterson told the National Assembly that while the Argyle talks between President Irfaan Ali and his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro in St Vincent and the Grenadines, have eased the tension, Guyana must use this time to prepare for any future acts of aggression by Venezuela.
“We believe that the effort in achieving the Argyle Declaration was commendable, however, we do feel that Venezuela will not rest and will continue to make efforts to undermine Guyana’s sovereignty. Sir, the Argyle Declaration has offered us a break in Venezuela’s aggressive behaviour and we must use this break to be prepared,” the MP told the House.
He contended that the need for the multi-stakeholder task force still exists.
The Opposition MP disclosed that the bipartisan Ministerial Advisory Committee on Guyana/Venezuela Controversy has not met in recent times. He said the same can be said for other important committees.
“Sir, you referred to a Ministerial Task Force, sir, the November Meeting of this Assembly, they have not met. The Ministerial Committee has not met. Sir, the Foreign Relations Committee has met twice,” he pointed out.
On Thursday, December 14, in Argyle, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, and President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, held discussions on matters consequential to the territory in dispute between their two countries.
These discussions were facilitated by the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Pro-Tempore President of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Ralph Gonsalves, and the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Roosevelt Skerrit.
