The Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) has formally written to several major regional and international organisations raising alarm over what it describes as the prolonged shutdown of Guyana’s Parliament and a broader pattern of democratic deterioration affecting parliamentary oversight, media freedom, and opposition representation in the country. As of today, the parliamentary shutdown has entered its 95th consecutive day
In a statement issued on May 18, FGM said its leader and lone parliamentarian, Amanza Walton-Desir, dispatched formal correspondence to the leadership of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Organization of American States (OAS), and ParlAmericas.
According to the party, members of the diplomatic corps, including representatives from United States (America), United Kingdom (Britain), Canada and European Union (ABCEU) countries, were also notified of the developments.
The issue centres on the prolonged absence of sittings of Guyana’s National Assembly since the passage of the 2026 National Budget on February 14. FGM said Parliament has not convened for a single sitting in the more than 90 days since then and argued that no formal resolution extending any parliamentary recess or constitutional justification for the suspension has been made public.
The matter has attracted increasing public attention in recent weeks, particularly after Village Voice News began maintaining a real-time public counter tracking the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds since the last sitting of the National Assembly, intensifying scrutiny over the continued parliamentary absence.
FGM contends that the prolonged failure to convene Parliament undermines Article 9 of Guyana’s Constitution, which states that sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised through their elected representatives and democratic institutions.
“The continued shutdown of Parliament has effectively suspended meaningful legislative scrutiny during a period of unprecedented petroleum revenues and major public expenditure,” the Movement stated.
Guyana’s Parliament reconvened following the 2025 General and Regional Elections, but several parliamentary oversight bodies—including Sectoral Committees and the powerful Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which traditionally scrutinises government spending and Auditor General reports—remain unconstituted more than six months later.
The absence of these committees, FGM argued, significantly weakens Parliament’s ability to oversee government policy, expenditure, and administration at a time when Guyana is experiencing rapid economic transformation driven by offshore oil production.
Since commercial oil production began in 2019, Guyana has become one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with billions of US dollars flowing into the Natural Resource Fund from oil revenues generated primarily by the ExxonMobil-led consortium. The surge in state spending and infrastructure expansion has simultaneously intensified calls from opposition parties, civil society organisations, and governance advocates for stronger parliamentary scrutiny and institutional oversight.
FGM said its correspondence to international organisations also highlighted concerns over what it described as “a broader pattern of democratic erosion,” including restrictions on media access to Parliament and the suppression of parliamentary speech.
“According to FGM, the absence of these committees significantly weakens Parliament’s ability to provide continuous scrutiny of government policy, administration, and expenditure at a time when institutional vigilance and transparency are critically important,” the statement said.
The movement called on the international bodies to consider interventions consistent with their democratic mandates and the agreements to which Guyana is a signatory.
Among the measures requested were public reaffirmations supporting regular parliamentary sittings, calls for the immediate reconvening of Parliament, and monitoring of democratic governance standards relating to parliamentary oversight, media freedom, democratic accountability, and opposition representation.
FGM stressed that its appeal should not be interpreted as a request for foreign interference in Guyana’s domestic affairs.
“FGM emphasised that these appeals are not invitations for interference in Guyana’s sovereign affairs, but rather requests for regional and international democratic institutions to uphold and reaffirm the parliamentary and democratic standards to which Guyana has voluntarily committed itself,” the statement noted.
Walton-Desir argued that the prolonged parliamentary silence is especially troubling at a time when Guyana is managing unprecedented oil wealth and expanding public expenditure.
“A Parliament that does not sit cannot effectively scrutinize public spending, represent the people, or hold power accountable. At a time of unprecedented oil wealth, democratic oversight in Guyana should be expanding, not disappearing,” Walton-Desir said.
The Movement said it intends to continue pursuing “all lawful, democratic, and institutional avenues available” to ensure that constitutional governance, parliamentary democracy, transparency, and accountability are preserved in Guyana.
