Speeches in the National Assembly

MOTION FOR THE ADJOURNMENT OF THE ASSEMBLY TO 7TH AUGUST, 2013 – July 25, 2013
Prime Minister and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs [Mr. Hinds]: Mr. Speaker, in accord with Standing Order No. 11(1) I now move that this Assembly do now adjourn. I do this in accord with a letter I sent to you yesterday pointing out and referring to our previous meeting last Thursday in which we sought to find ways to horse trade, to find ways so we can go forward and bring to our people in Guyana two things: the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project and also Local Government Elections. We in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) are committed to having both of these: to have Amaila for the great reduction it will bring to our people and country in the provision of electricity and also the Local Government Elections. We do need to refresh the representation of the local government; the last election having been held in 1994 and deferred annually for a number of reasons. We do want it. We have been saying and will continue to maintain that we have great reservations with two of the Local Government Bills. One of them in particular we think has constitutional issues but in the service of our people we would want to go forward with it. We thought at one time – in fact I was very sure at one time – we had an agreement but surprisingly some time after we were told that only one of our bills with respect to Amaila would be approved and the debt ceiling motion would not be approved then and may not receive approval later. But we need both of them to go ahead with Amaila. Our position remains that we would like to consummate that agreement we reached. Reaching that agreement would create a new atmosphere and new relationships between us, and when we are in that atmosphere we could forego, we could forbear on our substantial reservations on the two Local Government Bills for which we do have such reservations.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to move, as I said in my letter to you, that we adjourn to 7th August so as to provide more time for the various parties in Parliament, the Government and Opposition parties, to re-establish that accord that we reached for maybe half hour or so last Thursday. We would not want to proceed today in these circumstances because in these circumstances we could not forego our reservations on the Local Government Bills and, therefore, we could not go forward with the Local Government Bills today. When there is some accord reached it would set the stage of some increased trust and understanding between us which would enable us to go forward even though we would continue to have these reservations.
I do move that we adjourn unto 7th August.

Mr. Hinds (replying): Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members, I am sure that many of us and many of our citizens out there are wondering what is going on. I think that all of us have been saying since the results of the elections of 2011 that we are in a new dispensation; we are into new circumstances. Mr. Speaker, I think that is where we are. I think that these new circumstances suggest that we would enter an era where some sorts of trading, horse trading as it is said, would have been much more the order of the day and last Thursday I thought that we were making this step into this new era of trading and horse trading. I will repeat it again that for at least half of an our we were at a position that we were going to go forward last Thursday with the approval for the amendment to the Hydroelectric Act and also approval to the Motion for the raising of the debt ceiling and we on the Government side were going to support, in spite of our great misgivings, concerns, all four of the Local Government Bills so that the Guyanese people would have both Local Government Elections and Amaila. That was the position that for half of an hour I thought we had made a great step into this era, this new dispensation. We were greatly disappointed. I was greatly disappointed. I felt greatly let down. I felt that an agreement that we had reached had been pulled back.   [Mr. Ramjattan: You got caught with your pants down.]    It was not us who were caught with our pants down, Mr. Ramjattan. It was not us, Mr. Ramjattan.
I think the Hon. Leader of the Opposition spoke about there being no approaches, but we all know the saying about whether it is that Mohamed will go to the mountain or the mountain will go to Mohamed...   [Brigadier (Ret’d) Granger: Did I say that there was no approach, Mr. Prime Minister?]
Mr. Speaker: One second, Prime Minister. Subject to the record my understanding was, hearing you this afternoon, Brigadier, there was nothing on the table right now to even suggest talks so I certainly got the impression that there were no approaches or no talks were on the horizon and nothing was likely to emerge over the next 13 days. Prime Minister, proceed please. Certainly that was what was connoted; that there were no talks or anything to suggest...
Mr. Hinds: We do believe that statements were made by our side and even by the President which confirmed that the door is open to reach an agreement that can see the Guyanese people having both Amaila and... I was saying that we know the saying that whether it is that Mohamed will go to the mountain or the mountain will go to Mohamed. I am acting on the presumption that both of us want these things. The Government side wants it. The Opposition side wants it and I would have presumed that since last Thursday the Opposition too would have felt motivated to seek some accord so that we can get this agreement back on the table so our approach to defer or to postpone this meeting was not born of any issue of arrogance. It was not born of any sense of arrogance. It was an adjustment to the current situation that we have.
I want to refer to one of the statement by Hon. Member Basil Williams in which he talked about there being no way that these bills can come back in this session but I am not so sure what he meant. A session, normally, unless some things happen, is the full five-year period of a government; unless some particular... A session does not end at the point of recess. He spoke about not being able to bring it back but it was he, last Thursday who took us to Standing Order 112 and he did some things which I am not sure have occurred before in any other Parliament – not is this one – where, in 112, “any one or more of these Standing Orders may, after notice or with leave of the Speaker be suspended on a motion made by a Member at any sitting.” I wonder about him appearing to have closed his mind to Amaila happening. I wonder about it; whether he has closed his mind to Amaila happening at all.
We said a lot on this motion. Our Government is prepared to say that we meant no arrogance in the step we took yesterday seeking to postpone this meeting. We did it all to try to ensure that we have both Amaila and the Local Government Elections. Thank you, Sir.