Dear Editor,
Permit me to state the following in relation to the acting Chief Justice (CJ) Ian Chang’s ruling on the country’s budgetary cuts by the parliamentary opposition.
January 29 was indeed a historic day for Guyana and the Guyanese people when Chang made the ruling that the National Assembly has no right to cut the national budget estimates of our country. The Guyanese people certainly welcomed the CJ’s ruling. In fact, all the indigenous toshaos I contacted rejoiced when they heard the news.
The people of Guyana and their democratically elected government under the leadership of President Donald Ramotar, therefore, scored a major victory against the power-hungry parliamentary opposition – People’s National Congress/A Partnership for National Unity (PNC/APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) who in their unpatriotic agenda had cut the 2012 and 2013 national budgets presented to the Guyanese people by Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh.
Totally ashamed of its defeat in the High Court, the parliamentary opposition still claims that it intends to cut the upcoming 2014 National Budget despite the ruling by the acting CJ. This would certainly be contempt for the High Court and a demonstration of lawlessness which are definitely not qualities for national leadership. The people of Guyana must seriously take note of this.
The parliamentary ‘ball’ is now in the court of the Speaker of the House, Raphael Trotman, who must ensure that the National Assembly upholds the Constitution of our country, which could have far-reaching effects.
So, Mr Speaker, please let the National Assembly uphold the Constitution of Guyana at all times.
But it seems as though the parliamentary opposition intends to be on another time-wasting spree as a result of its ignorance of the separation of powers regarding the executive, legislature and judiciary. In this regard, it intends to legally challenge the acting Chief Justice’s ruling. It shall fail again!
The problem with the parliamentary opposition is it thinking that it is the government. No, it is not. It is the opposition which wants to run the government and the country through the back door, which is not different from the electoral malpractices prior to 1992.
But the good book states that anyone who enters or tries to enter the house through the back door is a thief. Now is the time to start watching them.
Yours sincerely
Peter Persaud