HGP Nightly News – Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) Leader and Member of Parliament Amanza Walton says President Irfaan Ali should take some of the country’s biggest and most contentious issues directly to the National Assembly instead of relying on engagements that do not include the full parliamentary opposition.
Walton’s position comes after WIN and APNU declined to participate in Tuesday’s meeting between Ali and the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations.
For Walton, the issue is not simply that the meeting had no agenda. She argued that questions surrounding Venezuela, third-country deportees, the economy, cost of living, energy and transportation are matters that deserve open parliamentary scrutiny before being taken into committee-level discussions.
She said the National Assembly should be the starting point for those national issues, with committees then providing the detailed examination that follows.
Walton also questioned the significance of Ali choosing not to address the Thirteenth National Assembly when it was convened. She noted that presidents had addressed the opening of the previous five Parliaments.
“The President’s place within Parliament does not make him a substitute for the National Assembly,” Walton said.
She argued that an Executive briefing involving only government members cannot substitute for an engagement involving the parliamentary body as a whole, particularly when opposition members were not present.
Walton further questioned what happens to the information generated from Tuesday’s meeting. She wants to know whether an official record was made, whether documents presented will be circulated to members who did not attend and whether the committee will formally report to the National Assembly.
She rejected the suggestion that the opposition’s decision to stay away amounted to a rejection of consultation.
According to Walton, parliamentary engagement must be “genuine, properly constituted and respectful” of the institutions through which elected representatives are expected to scrutinise the Executive.
She also called for direct engagement between Ali and the current Leader of the Opposition, arguing that the constitutional office deserves respect regardless of who holds it.
“Defending Parliament is not obstruction,” Walton said. “It is the fundamental responsibility of any parliamentary opposition.”
Walton is now calling on Ali to address the National Assembly, maintaining that Guyana’s institutions should not be rearranged “for the convenience of any President.”
