[www.inewsguyana.com] – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) in a statement on Friday, February 14 denied that the Partnership rejected an offer by President Donald Ramotar to set up a bilateral committee to deal with the Bills not assented to by him and which had been approved by the National Assembly.
On Thursday, February 13 Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira said that the President is still awaiting a response from the Political Opposition to a letter sent by him to the Leader of the Opposition in that regard.
“APNU has not rejected any offer for bilateral talks on the non- assented bills” the statement noted.
The statement further added that “in his letter to the President, the Leader of the Opposition was quite clear when he asserted; “we stand ready to meet you as early as possible to discuss, in the spirit of consensus and compromise the issues arising from our concerns.”
According to Teixeira, on Sunday, President Donald Ramotar received a letter from Opposition Leader David Granger which basically called for the work of the AML/CFT committee to reach a mutually acceptable conclusion and urged that a mutual agreed statement be issued in relation to the establishment of a bilateral committee.
She said the President subsequently mailed the Opposition Leader asking him for their support in passing the AML/CFT Bill during the Monday, February 10 Sitting of the House where the Prime Minister Samuel Hinds would have also announced that a joint committee would be set up to look at the Bills as was requested by the opposition.
She said the President further asked that the amendments proposed to the Act be sent to CFATF – Caribbean Financial Task Force – to see if it meets their requirement to which there has been no response.
However the APNU has made public its response to the President, contradicting claims by Teixeira.
