Joinder party seat dispute: National Assembly will not intervene in ‘private political’ arrangement – Speaker

The National Assembly of Guyana will not intervene in any private political arrangements agreed between parties.
This point was made by Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, during a discussion on the Guyana Dialogue programme, where he was questioned about the Leader of The New Movement (TNM), Dr Asha Kissoon vacating her seat as a Member of Parliament.
A New and United Guyana (ANUG) party recently issued a call for the parliamentarian to resign from her post, which was supposed to have been done since last November.

According to the Joinder List Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), given the 244 votes garnered during the 2020 General and Regional Elections by TNM, it was entitled to occupy the seat for 91 days.
In this regard, TNM provided Dr Kissoon with an opportunity to represent her constituents, but ANUG is now indicating that her actions are ‘undemocratic and a breach of trust’.
In response to this joinder party seat dispute, the Speaker of the National Assembly has made it clear that his role is not to adjudicate or apply pressure on any political arrangements made outside Parliament chambers.
Therefore, the two parties will have to resolve the issue independently.
“If there is a vacancy in the National Assembly, if that vacancy is by resignation, the resignation comes to the Speaker and the Speaker calls upon the representative list to name a replacement…Our role as Speaker is not to adjudicate, not to pressure whatever private arrangement happens outside of the Parliament,” the Speaker of the National Assembly explained.
Nadir added that when the matter is settled, the National Assembly will ensure that the necessary protocols stipulated by Guyana’s Constitution are exercised.
“When that is done, that name goes to the Elections Commission to verify that the person was one of the candidates on that list and qualify to sit in the National Assembly. Once that check is done, then GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission) will inform us that this person is now a duly-elected member of Parliament,” Nadir said.

Arrangement of trust
Based on the joinder MoU, each party would occupy the shared seat for a specific period. The three parties had previously committed to acting as a broker between the Government and the main Opposition.
Dr Kissoon was sworn in as a Member of Parliament in April 2023. According to ANUG General Secretary Timothy Jonas, it was an arrangement of trust and it has been breached.
Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs last week indicated that Parliament did not have the power to remove Dr Kissoon.
The process for replacing an MP involves the National Assembly writing to the head of the party list to whom the seat belongs, once its occupant has submitted a formal resignation. The head of the list is tasked with informing GECOM which party candidate’s name to extract and submit to the National Assembly. (G1)