Already, executives of the joinder parties which secured a seat in the National Assembly are at odds on their political views, despite their previous commitment to share a collective goal and consult with each other before taking a position in the National Assembly.
On Tuesday, 25 Opposition Members of Parliament (MP) from the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) voted against the $820 million allocated in Budget 2020 for Amerindian development.
They were displeased that Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir, refused to allow scrutiny of the allocation budgeted for youth development, agriculture equipment, the reinstatement of the Community Support Officers project and transportation.
Lenox Shuman, Deputy Speaker and Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) — a joinder party member — was furious. Shuman is the first representative of the three-party joinder in the House and sits along with the APNU+AFC on the Opposition side of the House. He voted in favour of the allocation which was nonetheless approved due to the Government majority.
The APNU+AFC said in a statement subsequently that Guyanese indigenous peoples deserve transparency and accountability on how the money set aside for them will be spent, as opposed to a “slush fund to allow for corrupt practices”. “We must know why [and] what the money is for!” the Coalition MPs shouted in the National Assembly.
However, Shuman took to his Facebook page the same day claiming that the APNU+AFC intentionally voted against the “indigenous component” of the Budget as a means to stymie the development of Guyanese indigenous peoples.
This opinion is not shared by A New and United Guyana (ANUG) Executive, Jonathan Yearwood, another joinder party member.
“Please tell the truth,” he said beneath an Inews article, “They voted against it because they were not allowed to scrutinise how the money would be spent. The real travesty is the Speaker not allowing the Opposition to scrutinise the allocation of the funds. Scrutiny needed. No free-for-all spending allowed.”
Yearwood was present at the last media engagement of the joinder parties – along with The New Movement (TNM) — at which occasion he said that on motions and policies, the representative of the joinder parties, at any given time, will consult with their Executives before he/she takes a position or votes.
However, there seems to be a clear contrast between Yearwood’s position on the matter and Shuman’s. “The PPP campaigned on transparency and accountability but now they refuse to allow any scrutiny of how $825 million will be spent on the development of the indigenous people. This lack of transparency is very worrying,” he said online.
This is not the only matter the ANUG Executive has been critical of in recent times. He also called out the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) for wasting money in the 2020 Budget with allocations to repaint State House and to purchase new vehicles for top Government officials.
He said publicly on Tuesday: “This PPP Government is already in the ‘waste money’ mode. Firstly, they are planning to repaint the State House. This will cost a significant amount and is completely unnecessary at this point in time. We may not like the colours but it was only repainted 2-3 years ago. Secondly, they are planning to spent $95 million to buy new vehicles for the President, Prime Minister and Vice president. This is totally unnecessary as the present vehicles should be good enough. Thirdly, they said they took over the government and the treasury was empty. They said Guyana was bankrupt. This isn’t the behaviour of people who have little or no money. Or they have LIED to the Guyanese people which wouldn’t be surprising.”
It was last communicated to the media that the LJP, having secured the most votes out of the other joinder parties at the elections, will occupy the seat in the National Assembly for approximately 2 years, 6 months and 20 days. ANUG should occupy for 2 years and 5 months and TNM for 80 days.
However, the party leaders stated that this is still up for discussion and a proposal is on the table for the TNM to occupy the seat for one year.
On multiple occasions the party has had to defend itself as being non-aligned to either of the major political parties with TMN Leader, Dr. Asha Kissoon stating: “I know it seems that when we were fighting for democracy, because of the old political ways and the division this is among our people, that it has to be [we are] either PPP or APNU [but] that’s exactly the cycle that we set out to break.”
Since then, some public concerns have been raised about Shuman’s appointment to the post of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, nominated by Prime Minister, Mark Phillips and seconded by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira.
There were also questions about his recent appointment as Advisor to the Minister of Public Works on Civil Aviation, along with ANUG’s Head, Ralph Ramkarran’s, appointment as advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on border matters.
