On the heels of its self-described “massive” performance at the just concluded Local Government Elections, the Opposition People’s Progressive Party has filed a no confidence motion against the Government.
The Government holds the majority in the National Assembly by one seat.
At his weekly press conference, Opposition Leader and PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo announced that his party filed the no-confidence motion with the Clerk of the National Assembly this morning.
He reminded that under the last PPP Government, the combined opposition, which had the majority, had filed a no confidence motion against the government for several reasons.
“If you compare what they claimed when they filed a no confidence motion, against the situation today, we are in a bad bad shape and therefore we have decided to file a no confidence motion against them”, Jagdeo announced.
He said he suspects that the issue will be addressed shortly in the National Assembly.
Mr. Jagdeo said the PPP has filed its no confidence motion against the coalition government for a number of reasons of its own.
“They came in to office on a promise of clearing up corruption, arguing that the airport was corrupt, the Marriott was corrupt, and the Amaila Falls. We have seen this Government in office, unable to prove any of this but on the other hand, from the audit report, $500 million is missing from the Durban Park project. The Public Procurement Commission ruled that this government has illegally awarded a contract for $605 million for drug purchases. The Public Procurement has released a report saying that Patterson and his Ministry bypassed the Tender Process and illegally approved a contract for the Demerara Harbour Bridge worth $150 million…the same Government that argued that monies should be paid from the semi-autonomous agencies and transferred to the coffers, because it was held illegally there, decided to secretly keep the US$18 million that they received from ExxonMobil as a signing bonus”, he said.
He listed several other issues and occurrences that took place under the coalition government, as reasons for a no confidence motion.
Mr. Jagdeo said whether the PPP wins or loses the no confidence motion, he believes the country will benefit from the debate surrounding it, “because we believe we will get a chance once again to point out what the electorate said to them when they rejected them at these polls, that their policies are all wrong and damaging our prospects for the future and the well-being of all of our people across Guyana”.
When the AFC filed its no confidence motion against the PPP government back in 2014, it pulled in the support of the APNU.
Together, the two held the majority in Parliament and the PPP was fearful of the consequences when the motion would have been passed.
In response, the then President Donald Ramotar progogured the Parliament, essentially bringing its session to an end, and called early elections.
The PPP lost those elections to the APNU+AFC coalition.
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