[www.inewsguyana.com] – The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is accusing A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) of not wanting to establish a Parliamentary Oversight Committee to look into security related matters.
At the last sitting of the National Assembly, a motion was passed calling for a Commission of Inquiry (COI) to investigate the December 6, 2011 police shooting in which Opposition Parliamentarians James Bond and Joan Baveghems were shot.
General Secretary of the PPP, Clement Rohee at a news conference on Monday, June 23 stated that the protestors were engaged in an illegal procession since Police permission was not granted.
The PPP is of the view that the tabling of the motion by APNU Leader, David Granger is “another deliberate and calculated attempt by the Opposition to avoid having security related matters come under the purview of the Parliament in which a motion was passed for the establishment of a Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector which we believe would provide the best mechanism for the resolution of security related issues. Our Party is not unmindful of the frequent Opposition’s utterances on the importance of Parliamentary Committees to deal with issues which impact our society.”
According to Rohee, “The Opposition’s reluctance for the establishment of a Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector is mind boggling. The PPP believes that partisan self-interest is the bedrock of the APNU’s unwillingness to activate the oversight committee. The Opposition is fully aware that if such a committee were to be established, they would not have a free reign to launch their continuous attacks on the PPP/C Government and the Minister of Home Affairs. Such wanton attacks, which have become characteristic of the Opposition, seem to provide optimal gratification for their daily diet of verbal bombardment aimed at the government. It would therefore be challenging for the opposition to delink their engrained proclivity from acting in a professional manner.”
The PPP is also of the view that the Opposition’s reluctance to have this oversight body in place is because the committee must be headed by the government Minister.
“This obviously is not to the liking of the opposition since their propensity is to dominate positions within the National Assembly as in the cases of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the majority they have taken in Parliamentary Committees. Yet this is the same Opposition which has the temerity to accuse the government of not engaging in inclusiveness.”
According to Rohee, it is clear that Mr. Granger and the Opposition therefore has no excuse for delaying the establishment of this Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Security Sector or the Security Committee.
