Starting…a new Parliament

The new opposition MPs have been squealing for sittings to begin – so they could get their authorisations for duty-free cars and other perks!! But the President legally had till November 2nd to authorise this!! Well, November 2nd being a Sunday, we’re informed that the “First Sitting of the National Assembly of the 13th Parliament of Guyana” will be convened Monday after next – November 3rd!! And to the cries that Pressie dragged matters out – they should reflect on the five-month delay that held up the Twelfth Parliament’s start!!
Anyhow, what are we to expect?? Fireworks?? Well, we had those at Diwali, didn’t we?!! OK… OK… Your Eyewitness knows the expectations are fireworks of another kind!! At the first sitting, the main order of business gonna be the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. With its comfortable majority of 36 out of the 65 seats, the governing PPP/C will definitely be nominating and electing a Speaker of their choice. This could be one of their MPs or not. If an MP is chosen, he or she will have a casting vote – when necessary!!
It’s most likely Manzoor Nadir’s gonna be returned as Speaker. After all, he was on their list of candidates for the last elections, and they had to’ve been VERY satisfied with how he handled matters between 2020 and 2025!! This included the infamous seizing of the Mace from its place in front of him – for which eight Opposition MPs were censured for their role in the ensuing melee!! The Dep Speaker’s gonna also be elected – and traditionally comes from the Opposition benches – but not necessarily the largest Opposition Party. Nadir’s Deputy in the 12th Parliament was Lennox Schuman from the joinder parties that only got one seat – while the major Opposition APNU had 31!! The latter walked out, and maybe when – as expected – the PPP/C nominates someone from APNU and not WIN, Sanction Man might raise a ruckus and walk out!!
The real drama’s gonna erupt when the new Speaker decides to call for the election of the Leader of the Opposition (LOO). Sanction Man – with WIN’s 16 seats to APNU’s 12 – has already announced he’s gonna be the LOO!! And has already threatened to go to the courts to select new GECOM Opposition Commissioners!! But there’s been grumbling from his MPs, and who knows?? Maybe there will be a mutiny, and APNU’s Campbell will get the three crossovers to his twelve for fifteen to pip Sanction Man’s remaining 13?
OK…OK Sanction Man can threaten to replace the dissidents!! But in the case of Charandass voting against his party’s position in the No-Confidence Motion in 2018, the CCJ ruled the vote was legit!!

…to remove Mad Maduro
The Marines have landed!!! Well actually they landed in T&T, where they’re supposed to be holding joint “exercises” with the local military!! But with 14 per cent of America’s entire naval fleet – complete with destroyers and aircraft carriers and 10,000 troops – in the Caribbean, it strains credibility that Pres Trump’s gonna bring them back quietly to the mainland – without achieving what we all know to be the objective: GET MAD MADURO!!
Now don’t expect massive numbers of troops to be landing to slog their way like at Iwo Jima in WWII. No siree, Bob!! This is the new warfare we see unfolding in Ukraine – with long-range missiles and drones taking out identified targets. As we saw in the Middle East, intelligence by the CIA and their local sources gives those missiles pinpoint accuracy!! Promises would have already been made to the military heads Mad Maduro’s depending on to protect him!!
It’s a Greek tragedy unfolding – in which Mad Maduro’s gonna get a taste of his own medicine!!

…to modernise agri
Your Eyewitness has always been impressed with our farmers adopting new technologies to improve their products and yields. The latest is nano fertilisers – they are applied directly to leaves to eliminate the leaching out of traditional fertilisers from soils!!