Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir on Thursday met with members of the diplomatic community and the private sector for discussions on how the Parliament and the National Assembly operate.
The meetings were held at the Parliament Building in Georgetown.
When contacted, Speaker Nadir said the engagements were cordial and focused solely on parliamentary procedures and processes.
Speaking specifically about the engagement with members of the diplomatic corp, Nadir said, “my friends and I discussed how our Parliament and how our National Assembly operate. We did not discuss Mr Azruddin Mohamed. We did not discuss any other matter except about our Parliament…Everyone was especially pleased and thankful for the briefing.”
Nadir condemned what he described the ‘ambushing’ of his guests by certain sections of the media and the sensationalism of their reporting on the meeting.
“I never wanted this meeting among very good friends to turn out as a media event… However, some members of the media ambush my guests… They want to portray their own narrative of sensationalism,” he expressed, lamenting that “a simple meeting among friends, myself and the diplomatic community, has turned out on the fake and dark media to be portrayed as something as it was not.”
The House Speaker said a similar engagement was held with the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Captain Gerald Gouveia Jr.
“And similarly, we discussed matters pertaining to the operation of the National Assembly and Parliament. The private sector was very appreciative of the briefing… Both meetings were extremely cordial,” Nadir noted.
The meetings came on the heels of the House Speaker’s live broadcast to the nation on Tuesday evening regarding the election of the Opposition Leader and the functioning of Parliament.
During that broadcast, Nadir took issue with diplomatic comments regarding the absence of a Leader of the Opposition. While expressing appreciation for the diplomatic community’s historic support for Guyana’s democracy, Nadir had posited that some recent statements failed to acknowledge the country’s constitutional progress, including the expansion of parliamentary committees and the establishment of key oversight bodies such as the Integrity Commission, Public Procurement Commission, Local Government Commission and Ethnic Relations Commission.
Meanwhile, addressing the media following the meeting with the Speaker, US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot said Nadir is entitled to his opinion. “I don’t feel like he targeted us. I think he was simply expressing his opinion which he has a right to do,” Theriot noted.
She also described the meeting as “nothing formal, just a chat”.
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