PPP/C will be an inclusive Govt for all – Teixeira

– says coalition will not be left out of political, economic progress

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira has assured that all sections of the Guyanese society, inclusive of supporters of the APNU/AFC coalition, will be represented at all levels of governance under the PPP/C Administration.

Teixeira made this declaration on Sunday in response to a recent missive from Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon, who had called out the Government for not including any representatives from the APNU/AFC to sit on several State Boards that were appointed over the past weeks.
However, the Governance Minister pointed out in a statement on Sunday that only five Boards have been appointed thus far, when there are over 100 State Boards still to be filled.
Over the past days, several State Boards were appointed by the new Government. These included: the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Limited, Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), National Communications Network (NCN) Inc, the Gaming Authority and the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil).
Representatives from several of the small political parties that contested the March 2 General and Regional Elections – such as The Citizenship Initiative (TCI), A New and United Guyana (ANUG), The New Movement (TNM) and the United Republican Party (URP) – were named members on those Boards.

In addition to representatives of these new political parties, members of civil society as well as individuals who have supported the PNC – the leading party in the APNU fraction of the coalition – were appointed and this was done in the interest of inclusivity and participatory democracy.
According to the Governance Minister, this trend will continue as other State Boards are appointed, adding that the Opposition Leader’s remarks were premature and precipitous.
“Let me say that the supporters of the PNC/APNU/AFC coalition deserve to be represented and included at all levels of society, and, they will be, as the PPP/C Government restores political and economic stability and rolls out its transformative projects to put Guyana back on track for all Guyanese,” she asserted in a statement on Sunday.
Teixeira had told the Stabroek News that no coalition representatives were named to those State Boards since the party deemed the PPP/C Government as “illegitimate”.
In response, Harmon had contended that “Where the law does not specify Opposition participation, the Government is obliged to include the Opposition in the interest of transparency and accountability… it would mean that it, the illegitimate PPP, can ignore statutory demands of mutual agreement and proceed to unilaterally appoint a substantive Chancellor, Chief Justice and a new Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.”
But the Governance Minister said that the Opposition Leader has illogically interpreted her comments to mean that where the law requires the Opposition representatives to sit on a Board, that the PPP/C would not comply.
“That is sheer mischief to mislead; Mr Harmon needs to be reminded that as the Opposition Leader he now holds a constitutional position which carries with it, greater responsibilities and requires principles and values in the interest of the nation… The track record of the PPP/C in Government demonstrates that it did abide by the constitutional provisions in regards to appointments to constitutional posts as well as where the law required representation by the parliamentary Opposition, and further the Opposition were offered seats on Boards which were not stipulated,” she asserted.
On the other hand, Minister Teixeira outlined that there were several instances where the APNUAFC Government violated these very premises that they are now vociferously advocating for.
In fact, she reminded that Boards were appointed by the former APNU/AFC regime as late as July 2020 for the next three years. This, she noted, was after the results of the National Recount were known (since June 9, 2020) that the PPP/C had won the elections.
“Wasn’t this a wilful and deliberate move to undermine the new Government with Boards that were overwhelming stacked with APNU/AFC activists and supporters?… They want to forget, and, verily believe that the Guyanese people have also forgotten what the APNU/AFC Government put them through over the last 5 years, as well as over the last 20 months since the successful passage of the No-Confidence Motion, including the long drawn period of March 2-August 1, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” she posited.
Moreover, the Governance Minister went on to highlight that during the 11th Parliament, the PNC treated their coalition partners as “appendages” and took the majority in the parliamentary committees, reducing their partners to “tokens” for appearance’s sake.
This control-freakism, she noted, was repeated most recently when the PNC-led APNU appointed a representative of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) without any consultation as they did in 2015, whilst omitting a representative from the faithful Justice For All Party (JFAP) – both of which have since withdrawn membership from the APNU.
Teixeira stated that under the APNU/AFC Government, every single Board was dominated by coalition supporters. However, the PPP/C Government is different and will unapologetically include representatives on Boards from civil society, political parties, skilled and experienced individuals who reflect the diversity of the nation in keeping with the Constitution, particularly Article 13.
“I continue to espouse that the composition of the parliamentary Opposition post-2020 elections is vastly changed; the political landscape has also vastly changed. The APNU/AFC coalition has to adjust to sharing political space with the newer smaller parties and civil society who showed their resolve to protect democracy when Guyana was under threat. Regrettably, thus far, the APNU/AFC coalition leaders appear to still be stuck in a time-warped mindset, unable to retrieve themselves,” Teixeira stated.
Only last week, the APNU/AFC parliamentarians staged a walkout of the first sitting of the National Assembly in the 12th Parliament after their nomination for the post of Deputy Speaker was not elected. Instead, the position went to Leader of another one of the new parties, Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman, who is the first Indigenous person to be appointed Deputy Speaker.
In addition to State Board members, the PPP/C Administration has also appointed several members of the new political parties and from civil society bodies as Advisors in key areas.