Speaker denies ordering cops to lock out APNU+AFC MPs from conference centre
-calls for apology from Harmon over claim
Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir has rejected a claim by Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon that he had directed members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to bar opposition parliamentarians from entering the grounds of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Thursday.
Nadir addressed the situation in the National Assembly yesterday ahead of the presentation of the 2021 national budget.
At the commencement of the sitting, Nadir disclosed that he received a letter from Harmon containing a series of allegations against him, including an accusation that he instructed the police to bar opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) from entering the grounds for the previous day’s sitting.
President Irfaan Ali addressed the Parliament on Thursday. APNU+AFC MPs attempted to take placards into the House to protest his presence but they were prevented from doing so by members of the GPF, some of whom physically restrained the MPs.
In his letter, which was seen by Stabroek News, Harmon condemned the treatment of the
APNU+AFC MPs, while noting that he and about 15 other members had been prohibited from entering the grounds of the conference centre.
“We understand that they were acting upon your instructions. Other Members of Parliament were threatened and assaulted by the officers of the Guyana Police Force,” he wrote, while adding that at least 10 MPs were locked in the compound of the Conference Centre against their will and prohibited from leaving the compound by the GPF.
Harmon further claimed that since Nadir’s assumption of the office of Speaker “acceptable dissent continues to be suppressed” and against this background he concluded that the constitutionally guaranteed rights and privileges of MPs would not be respected under his tenure as Speaker.
While calling for an unequivocal apology, he said he would be alerting the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Parlamericas, Amnesty International, the United Nations, CARICOM and Guyana’s international partners along with other international parliamentary bodies about the situation.
But Nadir dismissed Harmon’s claims as baseless and he himself called for an apology as he denied giving any instructions to
the police.
“I am disheartened, disappointed but not distressed that the Honourable member holding such an important title in the National Assembly while being a practising attorneyat-law would intentionally traverse this route,” Nadir said, while noting that the allegation are purely based on hearsay.
He added that Harmon has been a member of the National Assembly for
over ten years and should know that such “irresponsible and damning allegations” brought against the speaker is highly condemnable.
Nadir added that Harmon should be aware that the Speaker has no jurisdiction over the Guyana Police Force and so his allegation that he ordered the police to lock out Opposition MPs is ludicrous.