Tuesday January 14, 2014
Kaieteur News
Page 9
THE BALL IS IN APNU’S COURT It is unreasonable for APNU to expect the government to welcome and support its proposal for a social contract. Right now the relationship between APNU and the government is extremely strained and therefore it is inevitable for mistrust to be present whenever APNU makes a proposal to the government. APNU must say why the government would have reservations over proposals by the opposition. APNU has not dealt with the government in good faith. Since the Donald Ramotar administration took over, APNU has been guilty of conduct that generates mistrust. APNU, itself, created an environment of apprehension after it suggested that there were irregularities in the 2011 elections that would have a bearing on the presidency. Instead of accepting the official declared results, APNU demanded to have copies of the statements of polls and the list of result as per polling station even though APNU did have a presence in a substantive number of polling stations nationwide and would have already had copies of the very statements of polls that it was requesting. In parliament, APNU combined with the AFC to reconfigure the composition of the various committees. The manner in which this was done led the government to conclude that what was afoot was an attempt to
administer the affairs of the country from the opposition benches when the Constitution is quite explicit as to who exercises Executive power. The Constitution contemplates a situation in which a party gaining a minority of the votes can hold such power. Burnham knew that the PNC would never attain a majority. He was virulently opposed to coalition governments and thus designed the Constitution in a way that opened the possibility of the PNC gaining power with a minority of the votes. Further mistrust was engendered by the brutal manner in which APNU and the AFC went about cutting the 2012 Budget. Eventually there were productive negotiations between APNU and the government on this question. The two sides were on the brink of a historic development that would have set the stage for improved relations. But APNU then withdrew leading to escalation of tensions. There has been no improvement in the relationship between APNU and the government since and the differences have widened over major infrastructural projects. The government made available to the opposition parties all the major agreements that it had signed. It went as far also in having special briefings for the opposition parties on the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project. Instead of using the
Dem boys seh ...
Rohee got nuff bridge to cross People don’t know de trials that Rohee and de government got to go through. Dem got to think bout how to con de people and dem got to plan how to separate dem who like thief from de rest of de society. Tek Donald. He got to know who he can put as Finance Minister and who he can put as Labour Minister. Not that he got a lot of choice because is not many of he people gun watch money and keep dem hand off it. Then dem have Clement. Dem boys hear he talk bout de SWAT unit. He seh that de unit important fuh de police which got to be modern. Now de same Clement seh that people ain’t frighten now-a-days like long time because he is de Minister. Dem boys seh that fuh people who ain’t frighten dem never see suh much house wid grill, and so much people frighten to walk de road at nights, especially if de deh alone. But in de same breath he, Clement, announce that de SWAT coming. Is after de announcement that dem realize that Rohee and de government build nuff bridge fuh people cross. Clement seh that he know people believe that de SWAT people gun be corrupt like de rest of de police but people got to cross that bridge when dem come to it. Dem boys seh that wid de amount of corruption de country got a whole heap of bridges fuh people cross. Fuh every one of de Bees dem got about ten bridge. When people report to Clement all he does tell dem is that dem got to cross de bridge but he never mek any attempt to cross. If dem got to talk bout de Rat dem got to talk bout couple steel bridge. Bobby ain’t worrying bout crossing any bridge. He got a big boat; that is wha he lawyer in de States tell dem boys. Talk half and help Rohee build dem bridge
opportunity of those briefings and meetings to vent its concerns, APNU instead withdrew its support for the project. The government was outraged and accused APNU of acting in bad faith by not raising its concerns. The same thing happened over the Anti-Money Laundering and the Countering of Terrorism Bill which the government felt should have been supported. The government was forced to bring the Bill once again to the Assembly because it felt that APNU was prevaricating. APNU in turn had concerns over the government’s attitude towards the establishment of a Public Procurement Commission and the President’s refusal to assent to Bills it had passed. APNU
seems oblivious to the convention that no Bills, except those on moral issues should be brought to the House unless it has the support of the government. This is a time-honoured convention. However, the opposition parties seem bent on using their one-seat majority to introduce legislation which only adds to the suspicions by the government that the opposition parties are attempting to administer the Executive from the benches of parliament. What however really soured the relationship between the government and the opposition parties; was the stance they took in relation to the Minister of Home Affairs. In effect the opposition parties wanted to
move a motion of noconfidence against a Minister and use that to force his resignation. The result of all of this is increased mistrust between the opposition and the government. APNU must therefore accept that merely making proposals will not end this mistrust. It must demonstrate good faith it is serious about bringing the government on board in proposal for a social contract. It is not sufficient also for APNU to indicate that it does not want confrontation over the forthcoming Budget. It has to convince the government that its aim is not to disrupt development or to attempt to run the affairs of the government from the opposition benches. It will only be able to do
so by being magnanimous. There has never been any other route to increased political cooperation. If however, APNU continues to be defiant in the face of court rulings, whether preliminary or not; if it insists on passing its own legislation and expects the President to rubber stamp these; and if is protracts this untenable opposition to any proposed Bill introduced by the Minister of Home Affairs, then its social contract will join the long list of proposals that never see the light of day.
Burn victim to undergo surgery tomorrow Doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) are closely monitoring the condition of 37-year-old Eon Fernandez, who was burnt about his body last Friday after his house went up in flames. They are prepping him for surgery tomorrow. Fernandez, a father two, sustained first degree burns to his back, hands and neck. He is currently in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit on a life machine. Yesterday, his wife, Ingrid Daniels, said that her husband is slowly recovering. “The doctors say that he (Eon) is critical but he is in a stable. They will take him for surgery to remove the dead skin.” Kaieteur News was further told that Fernandez sustained damage to his trachea. He was however, breathing on his own since Sunday and is interacting with family members. “When we talk to him, he
would move his foot and shake up. He is trying to murmur some words but he is not fluent but we know what he trying to say,” Daniels said. The father of two was burnt after fire destroyed his Lot 25 ‘C’ Field Sophia home around 14:00 hrs last Friday. Hours after the fire, Daniels had told this newspaper that she was at home with her two children, aged 12 and five watching television when her husband came home in a drunken state and started to misbehave. “He is miserable when he is drunk, so when he come home I tell the kids that we gon go over to the yard next door (an empty lot) and stay there until he fall asleep,” Daniels, a domestic worker recounted. She further related that she sent her children over to the empty lot and went to a nearby shop to purchase sweets. “When I reach to the shop my daughter called me and say smoke coming from the house and I run back.”
The woman said that when she returned, her home was covered in smoke. “I keep calling for my husband but he ain’t answer, so I call for the neighbour and he come and kick down the door.” “As soon as the door open, Eon run out with fire on his back and hands and the neighbour take his hand and put out the fire and then they put him on a bag to lie and the police come and they take him to the hospital,” Daniels said. The woman explained that her family only moved there
about a year ago. “I have a kerosene stove, so I don’t know if my husband was trying to cook when we leave the house or what.” Daniels is now seeking any form of assistance from the public. “I don’t have anything. Me and my two children staying with a neighbour but her place is very small and we can’t burden her for too long. We don’t have clothes or anything.” Anyone willing to help Daniels and her family can call her on 677-6564.