Clerk of National Assembly clarifies MP payments, discusses 13th Parliament

– says payments can be made via bank or cash as WIN MPs’ accounts closed

– 13th Parliament to be convened as soon as list of 65 new MPs submitted

Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs has explained that Members of Parliament (MPs) can be paid either via the bank or in cash.

His clarification comes on the heels of at least three local banks shutting down the accounts of several candidates associated with the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) political party, led by United States (US)-sanctioned businessman Azruddin Mohamed, which has since won 16 seats in the National Assembly at the recently held September 1 General and Regional Elections.
“We pay by bank, and we can pay by cash,” Isaacs told reporters on the side-lines of an event at the Parliament Buildings on Thursday.
“The person would be asked to submit his or her bank account to me. If I’m told that the persons don’t have bank accounts, I’ll then pay them in cash. It would be their problem to get their money into the bank,” he added.

WIN MPs
Among the most recognisable names on the proposed Parliamentary slate for WIN are former A Partnership for National Unity-Alliance For Change (APNU-AFC) Ministers and MPs: ex-Minister of State and a respected Indigenous leader from Region Seven Dawn Hastings-Williams, once Minister of Public Service Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, another APNU defector who adds Parliamentary experience to WIN’s bench Natasha Singh-Lewis, and personal assistant to embattled former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield, Duarte Hetsberger.
Recently, Mohamed has been pushing for the local banks to restore the closed accounts of his party members, especially those poised to serve in the National Assembly. In fact, he was upbraided just last weekend for misrepresenting a conversation he had with the Governor General of the Bank of Guyana (BoG), Dr Gobind Ganga, on this matter.
Mohamed had claimed that he was advised by Dr Ganga on how to go about reinstating the bank accounts of WIN members that were shut down by several local banks.
However, in a statement late Saturday night, the Central Bank clarified the content of the conversation between the Central Bank Governor and Mohamed.
“Mr Mohamed has misrepresented the facts on social media,” the BoG stated.
According to the missive, “The Governor advised Mr Mohamed to withdraw his case against the commercial banks and affiliates to seek revaluation of their money laundering/terrorist financing risks, which is the responsibility of the commercial banks.”
In an article published on Saturday by online news entity Guyana Standards, Mohamed was quoted saying that the BoG head advised him to have his lawyer write to the various commercial banks that had closed more than 70 accounts belonging to WIN members.
Back in June 2024, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it sanctioned Azruddin Mohamed, his father Nazar Mohamed and several of their companies, including Mohamed’s Enterprise.
The sanctions are related to the evasion of taxes on gold exports, with OFAC noting that between 2019 and 2023, Mohamed’s Enterprise omitted more than 10 thousand kilograms (kg) of gold from import and export declarations and avoided paying more than US$50 million in duty taxes to the Government of Guyana.

New Opposition Leader
Earlier this year, the younger Mohamed formed the WIN party and contested the recent polls, where he secured 16 seats in the National Assembly and ousted the People’s National Congress-led APNU as the main Parliamentary opposition. APNU only managed to earn 12 seats.
With its 16 seats, WIN is poised to become the main Parliamentary opposition and Mohamed, the Opposition Leader.
While Mohamed has indicated his intention to take up the role as Leader of the Opposition, Isaacs explained that there is a process for this to be done.
“There would be a separate meeting, maybe at the first, if convenient, or the second sitting of the National Assembly. I would convene a meeting chaired by the Speaker of all opposition members only, and then he would ask to nominate a person or persons to be the Leader of the Opposition. If there are more than one person, we have the vote again. But only opposition members would be invited to that meeting, which would be chaired by the Honourable Speaker,” the National Assembly Clerk explained.

Convening of Parliament
Prior to this, however, the 65 new MPs in the 13th Parliament would take their oath, and a new Speaker of the National Assembly would be elected.
Asked for an update on the convening of Parliament, Isaacs disclosed that he recently received the list of new Parliamentarians from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and is now awaiting President Dr Irfaan Ali to set a date.
“Only yesterday [Wednesday], I received the letter from the Chief Elections Officer declaring 65 persons to be Members of the National Assembly, I think with effect from the 22nd of September. I am now awaiting the proclamation of His Excellency, the President, appointing a time, date and place for the first sitting of the National Assembly,” the Clerk of the National Assembly noted.
In the meantime, there is a lot of clerical work being done by the Parliament Office, including the preparation of registers, letters to the accountant general for the members to be paid their salaries and allowances, and division lists, among others.

Parliament Office and Opposition Leader
According to Isaacs, the Parliament office is responsible for the payment of salaries to the Prime Minister, all other Ministers of the Government, Members of Parliament and the Leader of the Opposition, who gets the salary and allowances equal to that of a senior Minister of Government.
In addition, the Parliament also provides the funding for the rental of a building to house the Opposition Leader’s office and also the furnishing as well as pays the staff in that office – all of which have to await the selection of such a leader to proceed.
APNU’s Aubrey Norton still functions as the Leader of the Opposition and will continue to hold his position until a new leader is sworn in.
Nevertheless, Isaacs explained that all the furniture and equipment purchased by the Norton-led office would be handed over to his successor. The clerk further noted that from the 2025 budget, there are still some capital and recurring funds available.
“I think we have about $3.5 million remaining on the capital and about $8 million on the current. So that will be given to the new leader of the opposition,” the Clerk of the National Assembly noted.
Meanwhile, Norton would not be returning to Parliament, much like his party’s former coalition partner, the AFC, which was booted from the House. The APNU MPs would be led by businessman Terrence Campbell, and according to APNU Executive Ganesh Mahipaul, who is also returning as a Parliamentarian, it is too soon to say whether his party would work with WIN from the opposition benches.
“I think it’s too early to make a pronouncement on any degree of collaboration or cooperation, however you want to term it. I think we first have to get past the hurdle of being sworn in as Members of Parliament… There are several other factors that have to be considered, so I don’t want to be pre-emptive or premature… I think we have to wait,” Mahipaul told reporters on Thursday.
In the new Parliament, the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government has secured the majority with 36 seats, while the remaining one opposition seat would be taken up by Amanza Walton-Desir from the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) party.