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| Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Aubrey Norton, announced the A Partnership For National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Members of Parliament (MPs) will not be attending the National Assembly on Monday. Norton made the announcement, on Tuesday, at a joint rally between the APNU+AFC and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA).
In a rally billed to address “high cost of living, corruption and extra judicial killing,” and strategically timed on the 2nd anniversary of the “installed government” Norton emphatically stated they are not going to parliament and “They [the PPP] will speak to themselves.”
The Opposition’s decision is a response to the suspension of eight of their MPs and who during the period of suspension will not be paid salary and other benefits they would normally be entitled to. Christopher Jones (Opposition Chief Whip), Annette Ferguson, Ganesh Mahipaul, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Maureen Philadelphia, Natasha Singh-Lewis, and Sherod Duncan are suspended for various alleged violations and for various periods.
The suspension is purportedly related to incidents that occurred in the National Assembly on December 29, 2021 during the reading of the Natural Resources Fund Bill. They eight have rejected the decision citing the denial of their constitutional right to due process The matter is before the court for determination.
Mobilisation
Norton also used the rally to notify the Opposition is organising and will be returning to the villages to mobilise more people to intensify the resistance to government’s policies, treatment of citizens and management of the economy. Using the coined slogan “If Guyana is to grow the PPP must go” the Opposition Leader told supporters they will have to be prepared to work to make it happen.
Clean Voters’ List Zeroing on the Voters List as did other speakers, Norton said the Opposition will not be going into any election unless there is a clean List. Apart from announcing the possibility of protest to ensure this, he stopped short of stating what else will be done to ensure a sanitised list. Every international observer mission to the 2020 Elections spoke about the size of the List vis-à-vis the population, and urged action be taken to realise a list more reflective of society. The next elections are Local Government which are constitutionally due.
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