Speeches in the National Assembly

HONOURING THE 21ST AUGUST, 2012 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF GUYANA AND THE REGIONAL DEMOCRATIC COUNCIL, REGION 10
Mr. Lumumba: Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to, on behalf of the Government of Guyana and the people of Region 10, in particular those of Linden and Wismar, know that we are prepared and have always been prepared to move past the recent incident and work with reasonable elected officials in Region 10 to find the path, proper path.
I am very disappointed in some of the comments made by MP Kissoon. I believe that the objective of the motion should be to find a way to move forward, but if you want to go down the road of calling people’s names, we will have to defend ourselves and we will have to, at some point, make references to the past. We have no choice in this matter. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that your pronouncement would have been done prior to Ms. Kissoon making her statements. Ms. Kissoon could not have been serious when she used every opportunity to insult this Government like the cussing exercise she led that was directed towards the Hon. Prime Minister at the Linden Town Day opening. She cannot be serious when she, as a Member of Parliament, led a cussing exercise against the Prime Minister.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, we are starting... Hon. Member Mr. Lumumba, I am aware that there was an incident at the launching of May Day. I do not know whether curse words were used.
Mr. Lumumba: Plenty were used.
Mr. Speaker: As long as you can verify what is said, but I am aware that there was an incident indeed.
Mr. Lumumba: I am willing to move past all of those incidents. Secondly, Ms. Kissoon has used this House to articulate and to mention racial terms over a dozen times during her presentation.
In addition, MP Kissoon cannot really believe that the predominantly afro- Guyanese committee in Region 10 must be exempted from equal participation with the electricity rates in this country. We can argue about the process. We can argue about the path towards that equality, but certainly no one should argue that it should not happen and it must not happen.
Everybody can fight and Ms. Kissoon needs to understand that. I do not think people on this side cannot fight. We are not made of straw. Everybody can fight and everybody can protest and misbehave, but that is not the end game. Mr. Speaker, we cannot be seriously talking about this Government as if this Government is some row government and does not have any concerned for Region 10.
Mr. Speaker, I know you do not want to go down in past, but let me briefly touch on a few issues. I have to.
Mr. Speaker: We are dealing with 21st July, 2012 agreement – Linden.
Mr. Lumumba: Yes, I am. I am and Mr. Speaker, you should have reminded her of that. Mr. Speaker, when we came into power, there were no house lot distributions for the people of Region 10. Mr. Speaker, when we came into power, we had no record of destroying baker shops and banning flour in Region 10. Mr. Speaker, when we came into power we had no record of violent anti-union activities in Region 10. Mr. Speaker, when we came into power, we had no record of mass layoff in the bauxite industry. Mr. Speaker, when we came into power, we met with dilapidated infrastructure, roads and drainage in Region 10. Mr. Speaker, what did we do? 
This Government subsidised the Bauxite Company with millions of US dollars annually to ensure that the people of Linden would get a decent standard of living. This Government improved the potable water system in Region 10 and is continuing to do that. This Government improved the roads, every road, every street corner, in Region 10. This Government stabilised the bauxite industry in Region 10. This Government proceeded on a massive housing drive in Region 10, in particular Amelia’s Ward. This Government put an end to rigged elections in Region 10.
Let us talk about the process of discussion of Region 10 with the committee that we had. Mr. Speaker, I want to inform you of all the meetings we had in the Office of the President. MP Kissoon has not spoken twice. She enters the meetings; she bows her head on the table and Mr. Sharma passes a note to their leader, Mr. Aubrey Norton. The meetings are led by Mr. Norton. There is no input. We can bring the records. This Hon. Member of Parliament has not participated physically other than bowing and going to a meeting in a chair and put her chin on the table. This is the level of representation she has given to Region 10. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Solomon is not interested in the resolution of this matter. He is interested in squatting, sending people to squat, sending people to illegally occupy land.
Mr. Speaker: Mr. Solomon is not here and so I am going to caution you about saying anything. The man is not here. Ms. Kissoon referenced him by saying he asked that she expresses his gratitude. Please be cautious about what is said about him in his absence.
Mr. Lumumba: Mr. Speaker, this motion deals with the Region and the delegation. I am saying to you that the leader of the delegation has been involved or once involved in squatting and pronounced on squatting. He is the leader of the delegation. He has also been a non-active member of the delegation. His role in the delegation is to pass notes to his leader and his leader is not the Hon. Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Granger; his leader is Mr. Aubrey Norton. Mr Speaker, the last time I checked, the Hon. Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Granger, was the leader of APNU and the person whose name was on the list and who was responsible for the victory of the elections in Region 10, not Mr. Norton or Mr. Solomon. I believe we are negotiating with the wrong persons!
Mr. Speaker: Whose fault is that? If you are negotiating with the wrong person, whose fault is that? Let us stick to the resolutions at hand.
Mr. Lumumba: I am speaking to the resolutions. The resolution has a problem; it is faulty! The resolution should be amended to call on Mr. Granger to take over the negotiations.
I am not here to badger anybody. All I am here to say is that we are prepared, at all times, to have serious negotiations. I do not believe you can have serious negotiations with those who sit across the table. That is not the case. The resolution, to me, has erred and those who have prepared the resolution... I think the Hon. Leader of the Opposition has no choice but to show that he has some level of cooperation with the team from Region 10. But I know deep in his heart he recognises that they are inept and they are incapable of representing his political party. That is all I want to say, Mr. Speaker.