Murder of democracy

Pappy show
At one point during the last sitting of Parliament, Speaker Trotman was moved to remind his erstwhile co-leader of the AFC, Ramjattan, that they weren’t engaged in a ‘pappy show’. He could’ve certainly fooled us!! Ramjattan had just confirmed he’d threatened to ‘knock off each one of you, one by one’! And then Trotman promptly went on to execute Ramjattan’s threat by gagging Rohee!
Only he didn’t call it ‘gagging’ – never mind that Rohee was prevented from kicking off the debate on the Firearms Bill that was on the Order Paper. Trotman turned Parliament into “Alice in Wonderland”. “When I use a word, “Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
“The question is”, said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty,  “which is to be master – that’s all.”
And Trotman, despite all the ducks and drakes he’s playing to disguise the fact, is part and parcel of the opposition’s single minded drive to show the government they are ‘master’ in Guyana. The government is supposed to roll over and play dead in this murder of democracy in our country!
Fact of the matter is that Trotman has learnt Burnham’s lesson well: there are many ways to kill a cat – or in this matter, to sanction Rohee. Even if it means breaking all the rules and traditions of Parliament. Trotman set the ball rolling when he first allowed a ‘motion of no-confidence’ to be passed by the opposition. He did so even though he confessed he didn’t “know” if it was legal – by saying he’d consult ‘legal luminaries’. He should have deferred the motion until after his legal consultation.
His legal luminaries promptly told him in no uncertain terms that the ‘no-confidence motion’ was of no consequence. But most unprofessionally, Trotman expressed ‘regret’ that Rohee hadn’t complied with the illegal motion! He then suggested a ‘more specific’ motion which is what the opposition brought on Thursday. And the man insists he is ‘impartial’!!
So guided by their Speaker, the opposition executed their nefarious plot to prevent a sitting minister from performing his duties. Trotman illegally allowed PNC Chairman Basil Williams to prevent the minister from speaking on a purported “point of order”. The point, of course, is that he had no specific order to point to – as is demanded when such an objection is made!
So convenient to have the Speaker in your pocket!
Murder most foul
Gail Teixeira explained to Trotman what this meant: anarchy had now been loosened in Parliament. Imagine what is in store for the country in the months ahead!! The anarchy reached its zenith (or more appropriately its nadir) when in the end Trotman sent the opposition motion to the Committee of Privileges. Rohee cannot speak until the committee, controlled like all other committees by the opposition, rules on the matter.
The patent illegality of this manoeuvre is that the Committee of Privileges’ “remit is to make recommendations to the House on complaints of breach of parliamentary privilege.” The opposition can point to not a single breach of parliamentary privilege by Rohee! In fact, it is the entire opposition that has violated their privilege of free speech when they refused to obey Trotman’s earlier ruling on their no-confidence motion!
The Speaker should have expelled the pack of them, or the government benches should have taken them all to the Committee of Privileges! Trotman made a big to do about ‘due process’. After traducing all its tenets in the house!!
Playing dead
Trotman offered to resign if either side moved a ‘no-confidence motion” against him. As he had suggested earlier he should have stepped aside when it was clear to him that he was complicit with the murder of democracy in Parliament.