HGP Nightly News – Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir has lashed out at what he called a widening campaign to portray Guyana’s Parliament as idle, accusing sections of the diplomatic community, opposition figures and some media houses of twisting the reality of the Assembly’s work and weakening public trust in democratic institutions.
In a Tuesday evening address, Nadir dismissed as “false and outright absurd” the claim that the National Assembly has been deliberately inactive, insisting that Parliament has remained functional since the 13th Parliament was convened on November 3.
He said the Clerk of the National Assembly has received, examined and processed more than 90 questions and five motions, and that decisions were communicated to opposition members. Nadir also pushed back against diplomatic remarks about the absence of a Leader of the Opposition, arguing that the vacancy does not automatically diminish democracy.
While he said he appreciated the diplomatic community’s longstanding support for Guyana’s democratic development, he contended that recent statements failed to recognise what he described as constitutional progress, including expanded parliamentary committees and the establishment of oversight bodies such as the Integrity Commission, Public Procurement Commission, Local Government Commission and Ethnic Relations Commission.
Turning to his own political critics, the Speaker addressed attacks made against him by opposition member Azruddin Mohamed, repeatedly referring to Mohamed as an “international fugitive offender.” “I am not sanctioned by a US court. I am not indicted by a US court. I am not a fugitive,” Nadir said, adding that when he faced legal challenges in the past, he dealt with them directly rather than retreating from scrutiny.
He went further, alleging that Mohamed and his supporters have targeted his family, including protests outside his Eccles home, surveillance and threats, which he said violated his constitutional rights. The Speaker said the ordeal brought back memories of what he called “the darkest days” of Guyana’s political history, drawing a parallel to unrest in 2000.
Nadir said the controversy has placed him in what he described as an unprecedented constitutional situation: presiding over the election of a Leader of the Opposition when, in his view, the presumptive nominee is an “international fugitive.”
He warned that such a move would be without precedent in Guyana’s Westminster-style parliamentary tradition, and added, “If opposition members feel it morally right to elect an international fugitive, then the stain on our Parliament and our country rests solely with them.”
He insisted he would not be bullied into silence.
“No international fugitive, no wanted man or woman, nor their acolytes inside or outside of the House will face me,” Nadir declared.
