House Speaker engages diplomats, Private Sector on functioning of Parliament

Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir on Thursday met with members of the diplomatic community and the private sector for discussions on how the Parliament and the National Assembly operate.

The meetings were held at the Parliament Building in Georgetown.
When contacted, Speaker Nadir said the engagements were cordial and focused solely on Parliamentary procedures and processes.
Speaking specifically about the engagement with members of the diplomatic corps, Nadir said, “My friends and I discussed how our Parliament and how our National Assembly operate. We did not discuss Mr Azruddin Mohamed. We did not discuss any other matter except about our Parliament… Everyone was especially pleased and thankful for the briefing.”
Nadir condemned what he described as the “ambushing” of his guests by certain sections of the media and the sensationalism of their reporting on the meeting.
“I never wanted this meeting among very good friends to turn out as a media event… However, some members of the media ambush my guests… They want to portray their own narrative of sensationalism,” he expressed, lamenting that “a simple meeting among friends, myself and the diplomatic community, has turned out on the fake and dark media to be portrayed as something as it was not.”
The House Speaker said a similar engagement was held with the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Captain Gerald Gouveia Jr, and Vice Chairwoman Kathy Smith.
“And similarly, we discussed matters pertaining to the operation of the National Assembly and Parliament. The private sector was very appreciative of the briefing… Both meetings were extremely cordial,” Nadir noted.
The meetings came on the heels of the House Speaker’s live broadcast to the nation on Tuesday evening regarding the election of the Opposition Leader and the functioning of Parliament.
During that broadcast, Nadir took issue with some sections of the diplomatic community’s comments regarding the absence of a Leader of the Opposition. While expressing appreciation for the diplomatic community’s historic support for Guyana’s democracy, Nadir had posited that some recent statements failed to acknowledge the country’s constitutional progress, including the expansion of Parliamentary committees and the establishment of key oversight bodies such as the Integrity Commission, Public Procurement Commission, Local Government Commission and Ethnic Relations Commission.

Entitled to his opinion
Meanwhile, addressing the media following the meeting with the Speaker, US Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot said Nadir is entitled to his opinion. “I don’t feel like he targeted us. I think he was simply expressing his opinion, which he has a right to do,” Theriot noted.
She also described the meeting as “nothing formal, just a chat.”
During his address on Tuesday, Nadir had also sharply criticised some opposition figures and media houses, accusing them of misrepresenting the work of Guyana’s Parliament and undermining the country’s democratic institutions.
Nadir said claims that the National Assembly has been deliberately inactive are “false and outright absurd”, insisting that Parliament has remained functional since the 13th Parliament was convened on November 3.
He said more than 90 questions and five motions have been received, analysed and processed by the Clerk of the National Assembly, with decisions communicated to opposition members.
The Speaker also addressed personal attacks made against him by opposition member Mohamed. He accused Mohamed and his supporters of harassing his family, staging protests outside his Eccles home, conducting surveillance and making threats, which he said violated his constitutional rights.
Nadir also said he now faces an unprecedented constitutional dilemma, presiding over the election of a Leader of the Opposition when the presumptive nominee is an “international fugitive”.