Leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, Azruddin Mohamed has indicated that his party could move as early as this week to the Court to force the hands of the Speaker to convene the meeting of Members of the Parliamentary Opposition to elect an Opposition Leader.

With a total of 16 seats in the National Assembly, Mohamed as the Leader of WIN, is in line to be the next Leader of the Opposition.

In mid-November, WIN dispatched a pre-action letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, warning that failure to convene a meeting within 14 days to elect the Leader of the Opposition would result in legal actions.

With the ultimatum now expired, Mohamed told reporters today that his Lawyer, Siand Dhurjon has advised that the party moves to the Court.

“It is on the table, I think earlier this week, my counsel he said he wants us to move to the court. He said it looks like we will have to move to the court as early as this week,” Mohamed said.

He contends that in the absence of an Opposition Leader, the country is gradually slipping into a dictatorship.

“Presently, there isn’t an Opposition Leader. What is the purpose of an Opposition Leader? The purpose of an opposition is to hold the government, any government accountable anywhere in the world to hold the government accountable. What we have in Guyana is a dictatorship government. It is a Government that don’t care about the people. They rather hold this country hostage,” Mohamed told reporters as he stood outside the Public Buildings.

Mohamed and his father, Nazar Mohamed have been indicted in the US, and are now facing an extradition request from the US Government to answer an 11-count indictment in Florida.

They have maintained their innocence in that matter.

With the Magistrates’ Court indicating that it will proceed with hearing the request for the extradition, starting January 6, Mohamed questioned whether the Speaker intends to drag the election process out until the hearing and determination of the matter.

He said for the parliament and country at large, there are grave implications.

“Let’s just say, this matter takes couple months or even a year, because we have an election petition matter in this court that is ongoing for five years plus. So, if this matter keeps on going for months or maybe a year, what will happen to the country? Right now the country is in limbo. We have all these parliamentary committees held hostage present. The budget is coming up, the budget is coming up, what will happen? We need an Opposition Leader there. How will we move forward? We need an office so that persons can come in,” Mohamed complained. 

In his letter to the Speaker, WIN’s Attorney explained that the Leader of the Opposition is a key constitutional officeholder, who has a number of important constitutional responsibilities under the law, and there was nothing stopping the Speaker from convening the meeting with Members of the Parliamentary Opposition.

The Speaker, according to WIN, has not responded to its latest correspondence.

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