Laughing stock

Mother of all piffle

Rafael Trotman is determined to make the parliament of Guyana into the laughing stock of the Commonwealth. Advised by his own lawyers that the ‘no-confidence’ motion he allowed the Opposition to pass against Minister Rohee was of no effect, he advised them to bring a ‘more specific’ gag order. So said; so done.
After the Opposition complied, he exclaimed that the ‘gag motion’ now infringed on a ‘privileged right’ of Rohee: to speak in Parliament! And in an amazing act of contortion he sent the latest ‘motion’ – “not Rohee” he parsed! – to the Committee of Privileges (CoP). In the meantime, however, Rohee cannot speak on the floor of the House. Which is what the Opposition wanted in the first case!
And as we have pointed out, Rupert Roopnarine, had declared months ago, they wanted Rohee before the CoP. Like all the committees of parliament, the CoP – controlled by the Opposition – has never met. But to ensure that Rohee’s lynching proceeds according to plan, the Opposition has removed two of its members and replaced them with their security heavyweights, Debra Backer and Winston Felix.
Obviously they have no interest in the legality of their manoeuvre or in the bona fides of the CoP. Something the CoP has absolutely no jurisdiction to even consider. The CoP’s “remit is to make recommendations to the House on complaints of breach of parliamentary privilege.” The Opposition can point to no breach of privilege that Rohee committed.
The Constitution is very clear about “privileges”: “Parliament may by law determine the privileges, immunities and powers of the national Assembly and the members thereof.” Such ‘law’ however, cannot violate the three stated privileges, the pertinent one which declares: “no civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against any member of the Assembly for words spoken before or written in a report to the Assembly.”
The Speaker’s unctuous concern about Minister Rohee free speech being gagged is so much piffle. A privilege grants certain special prerogatives to some persons, contrary to common right. Free speech is a right common to all, not a privilege: the parliamentary privilege further extends it for parliamentarians. The gag order is out of order, ab initio, and the Speaker should never have allowed, much less suggested it.
In the continued drive for the empowerment of Parliament, several Special Committees have been launched. Right up there is one designed to straighten out UG. It is being chaired by past Guyana Scholar, ex-UG professor, co-leader of the WPA and present chairman of APNU, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.
Probably to prevent any wrangling over its mandate, the powers-that-be decided to be rather graphic and clear in naming it: “Special Select Committee on the appointment of a new, fully constituted Council to ensure that the University of Guyana has a governing body that has the capacity to transform the institution into a truly National Asset”.
This nomenclatural practice, all Guyanese would know, is part of our heritage of leaving very little to the imagination when we confer names on new phenomena. That is, no one but the members of the “SSCotAoNFCCtEttUGhaGBthtCtTtIiaTNA” who, we are sure, will muck things up. Regardless.

5 per cent vs 25 per cent
Patrick Yarde, leader-for-life of the GPSU had declared that entry level public servants should receive  Gy$90,000 monthly. He had conducted a ‘scientific study’. In a gesture of magnanimity, however, he later relented and said he would settle for a mere 25 per cent increase. What say he now to the government’s five per cent offer?