Cabinet sub-committee to advise on way forward following no-confidence vote

A Cabinet sub-committee has been named by the APNU+AFC administration to make recommendations on the way forward following Friday’s historic vote in the National Assembly that saw the government being defeated in a motion of no-confidence.

The government in a statement yesterday informed that President David Granger earlier in the day convened special meetings of the Cabinet and the National Security Committee (NSC) during which he reiterated the important role the Cabinet and the NSC play in the security, stability and good governance of Guyana.

“The Cabinet examined all of the legal and constitutional aspects of the vote in the National Assembly on Friday, December 21st and established a SubCommittee to advise on this matter. The SubCommittee will examine all the legal opinions available and report to Cabinet on Thursday, December 27th with recommendations on the way forward,” the government said in the statement last evening.

Government used the opportunity to assure citizens that all necessary measures to ensure safety and security are in place and that, in this regard, “you (can) go about your business in a confident manner.”

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo filed the motion on November 15 declaring no-confidence in the APNU+AFC government. The motion was debated on Friday and five MPs from each side made arguments which, in total, lasted more than six hours.

When it was time to vote, the 32 Opposition MP’s duly declared their support for the motion while the first two government MP’s Audwin Rutherford and Haimraj Rajkumar, both of the Alliance for Change (AFC) strongly declared their dissent.

As Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs called for ‘Mr C Persaud’ to cast his vote, shock reverberated through the chamber when Persaud voted ‘Yes’.

Stunned government ministers Volda Lawrence and David Patterson, who were sitting directly in front of the AFC backbencher spun in their seats. Recognising that he had incorrectly addressed the member, Isaacs called for the Honourable Charrandas Persaud, who, after calmly sipping from a glass of water, softly intoned “Yes”.

He subsequently repeated ‘yes’ three times.

The Speaker then announced that the motion had been carried and he later adjourned parliament until January 3.

Persaud’s defection resulted in the fall of the David Granger-led government, which according to the Constitution will have to hold elections within 90 days.