Budget Debate 2024: Opposition MP taken to hospital after slurred, incoherent speech

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir had to temporarily suspend the parliamentary budget debate on Wednesday after Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Geeta Chandan-Edmond was incoherent and slurred her speech during her presentation.
Recognising that Chandan-Edmond was appeared to be acting strangely, Nadir proposed a break, but the MP said “no” to his proposition. However, the Speaker went ahead and suspended Parliament and sent for the Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTS) at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. She was one of the speakers in the afternoon session of the debate.
The Opposition MP was then transported to a city medical facility. The incident occurred just before 17:00h on Wednesday.

When contacted, Nadir told Guyana Times that Parliament has “urgent business to attend to” and he was unaware when the proceedings would continue.
However, about an hour later, the budget debate recommenced.
Meanwhile, in a statement immediately after the incident, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition said that it “wishes to advise that during the Budget Debate on January 24th, 2024, when our MP Geeta Chandan-Edmond approached the podium to make her contribution, there were notable signs of slurred speech and physical tremors. The Emergency Medical Technician stationed at the National Assembly was called in and recommended that she be immediately transferred to the Accident and Emergency unit. We will update the public on her condition. Our thoughts are with her.”
The $1.146 trillion budget was presented by Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh on January 15 themed “Staying the Course, Building Prosperity for All”.
Financed again by zero new taxes, this national budget is 46 per cent larger than last year’s 741.9 billion. It is built on continuing the rollout of initiatives to improve the lives of Guyanese and, most importantly, increase the ‘generational household wealth’ across the country.
Day four of the 2024 Budget presentations will continue today at 10:00h at Arthur Chung Conference Centre.