FGM to Boycott Budget Presentation, Says No Budget Should Proceed Without Opposition Leader

Opposition Member of Parliament Amanza Walton-Desir has announced that the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) will refuse to participate in the presentation of the 2026 National Budget unless Parliament first facilitates the election of a Leader of the Opposition, arguing that the National Assembly is constitutionally incomplete and democracy is being undermined.

In a statement issued following Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh’s announcement that the Budget will be presented on January 26, Walton-Desir said FGM will not sit in Parliament “to listen to the Minister of Finance go on for hours while the government refuses to do what is right and call the meeting to allow for the election of the Leader of the Opposition.”

The 13th Parliament was convened on November 3, 2025, but has not met since that date. During this period, PPP-elected Speaker Manzoor Nadir has not convened a meeting of the non-government Members of Parliament to facilitate the election of the Leader of the Opposition, as required under Article 184(1) of the Constitution of Guyana.

“We will not sit there and pretend that it is business as usual,” Walton-Desir declared, adding that while the government may proceed with reading the Budget, it has “no moral or constitutional justification to treat it as normal business when Parliament is structurally incomplete by the PPP Government’s own deliberate inaction.”

Guyana has been without a formally recognised Leader of the Opposition since the 2025 general elections, despite constitutional provisions requiring the post to be filled by the elected non-governmental members of the National Assembly. Civil society and opposition parliamentary parties have repeatedly accused the governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) of delaying the process by failing to convene the necessary meeting for the election of the Leader of the Opposition.

Walton-Desir accused the government of “manufacturing normalcy” while refusing to complete the constitutional framework, and then “using their majority numbers to bulldoze legitimacy.” She further questioned how the government could credibly prepare a national Budget while the constitutionally established Office of the Leader of the Opposition, which is funded through parliamentary subventions, remains vacant.

“The Office of the Leader of the Opposition is funded by the State. It receives a subvention from Parliament,” she said. “So, who has been engaged to determine that figure? What figure did they budget for the operation of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition when they have deliberately refused to allow one to be elected?”

Rejecting any suggestion that the standoff is driven by personalities or private circumstances, Walton-Desir said the issue goes to the heart of democratic governance. “This has nothing to do with anybody’s private money, means, or personality. This is about whether Guyana will have a functioning democracy or whether Irfaan Ali and his government will simply do whatever they want because they have the numbers.”

She described the situation as “disrespect to the Constitution” and “disrespect to the people of Guyana,” warning against normalising what she characterised as executive overreach. “This government has shown such disregard for us as Guyanese, and we must not accept that as normal,” she said.

Walton-Desir said FGM’s position is unequivocal. “So let me be clear: Forward Guyana Movement will not be sitting to listen to Ashni go on for hours while the government refuses to facilitate the election of the Leader of the Opposition. We will not lend legitimacy to nonsense.”

She insisted that before any budgetary figures are presented, the Speaker of the National Assembly must act. “Before the Minister of Finance rises to present a single budget figure, the Speaker must call the meeting for the non-governmental Members of Parliament to elect the Leader of the Opposition.”

Calling for public resistance to what she described as constitutional abuse, Walton-Desir concluded: “Stop playing games with the Constitution. Stop disrespecting the people of Guyana. And we, as Guyanese, must stop taking this level of disrespect. Government is the servant of the people.”

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Editor’s note- headline updated