Speaker again denies Opposition questions on visit of US Secretary of State

Earlier this week, Nadir had denied the first set of questions. The Opposition reworked the questions and made a new submission. The new submission was denied today.

Speaker again denies Opposition questions on visit of US Secretary of State

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir for the second time today, denied the Opposition request for questions to be posed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the two-day visit of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Earlier this week, Nadir had denied the first set of questions. The Opposition reworked the questions and made a new submission.

The new submission was denied today.

Mr. Harmon said the decision by the Speaker not to allow the questions to be asked is bad for Guyana since the questions are important.

“This is bad for the people of Guyana. The people of Guyana will not accept this kind of behavior. We are required to know what are the matters that are supposed to be discussed and the question in our view was urgent and important enough” Harmon noted.  

Speaker Manzoor Nadir

The Opposition Leader described the ruling by the Speaker as very unfair.

“We consider the speaker’s ruling to be quite unfair, unreasonable unjust and we find that he wreaks biasness” Harmon maintained. 

The APNU+AFC in its questions wanted details on the agenda for the meetings and discussions and also wanted the Government to guarantee that Guyana’s national interests will not be compromised.

The Opposition also wanted the Foreign Minister to identify Guyana’s key interests and non-negotiable policies as they relate to Venezuela.

There is concern that the visit by the US Secretary State could be used to set the stage for adding pressure to Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro to step down.  Three of the four countries being visited by Pompeo on the trip share borders with Venezuela.

The Guyana Government has been warned by the Opposition to not get the country involved in the internal affairs of Venezuela.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement this morning repeated much of what was released by the US State Department about the visit.

During the two day visit to Guyana, Mr. Pompeo is expected to meet with the President and Cabinet and also have talks with the Secretary-General of CARICOM.

Opposition Leader Joe Harmon

According to the State Department, Pompeo will reinforce the promise of a values-based U.S. partnership highlighting opportunities for more responsible and transparent private sector investment particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pompeo will also be visiting Suriname, Colombia and Brazil this week.

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