Opposition Leader responds to Teixeira comments on state boards  

Dear Editor

I have taken note of a report in today’s edition of the Stabroek News in which Ms. Gail Teixeira is quoted as having stated, inter alia:

“They say we are an illegitimate government. If we are an illegitimate government why would you want to sit on any board we are appointing? They have got themselves into what you call a problematic position. You can’t say you want to be on boards but you don’t recognize the government that is appointing those boards.”

Ms. Teixeira is attempting a vulgar and indecent whitewashing of the actions of her illegitimate and fraudulent PPP government.

I wish to advise Ms. Teixeira that there is a difference between the State and the Government. The State of Guyana is a legal entity that operates in perpetuity. Governments come and go. A government can be illegal and illegitimate as is the one she is a part of. Where State Boards are prescribed in a law, then it is of the State. It is the Parliament that passes laws not the Government. For the avoidance of doubt, Parliament comprises both Government and Opposition making it a State entity. Therefore, where the law requires Opposition representatives to sit on Boards, the Government is required to comply.

Where the law does not specify Opposition participation, the Government is obliged to include the Opposition in the interest of transparency and accountability and because the law is a law of the State and not of the Government.  Therefore, the position of Ms. Teixeira and PPP is ludicrous. Taken to its logical conclusion, it would mean that it, the illegitimate PPP, can ignore statutory demands of mutual agreement and proceed to unilaterally appoint a substantive Chancellor, Chief Justice and a new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission. It is an absurd argument that Ms. Teixeira proffers.

Further, Ms. Teixeira is reported to have stated: “We have put members of the parliamentary opposition and non-governmental organizations on the boards.” This is a blatant and absolute falsehood. None of the 32 Members of the Parliamentary Opposition has been appointed to any board which has been announced, namely GuyOil, Guyana Water Inc and the Gaming Authority.

Regards
APNU+AFC