This publication was reliably informed that the no-confidence motion filed last month against the APNU/AFC coalition Government by the Opposition’s People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) is set for debate on December 21.
The motion was filed under the name of former President and current General Secretary of the party Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Opposition Leader had said that Guyanese made it clear at the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE), where the PPP/C came out victorious with a whopping 45,000 votes more than the Government, that electorates are unhappy with the direction and policies of this Government.
However, a day after the motion was filed, Jagdeo had made it clear that the Party wanted its motion debated before the reading of the 2019 Budget.
Jagdeo expressed fears that attempts would be made by the Government side to get Speaker of the National Assembly, Dr Barton Scotland, to schedule the motion to be heard some time after the budget.
Shortly after, the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, wrote the Parliamentary Opposition, informing them that their motion will not be heard before the 2019 Budget is dealt with by the House.
Opposition Member of Parliament and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall had contended that the motion “cannot be ignored or tossed aside in favour of other Government business in the National Assembly. Certainly, it is required to be debated before a national budget is presented. The rationale is a pragmatic one: that if the No-Confidence Motion is dealt with after the budget, then the Government that presented the budget may not be in office to implement that budget,”.
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo in Government’s defence said, among other things, that the coalition was not running away from the the no-confidence motion laid against them.
