By Antonio Dey | HGP Nightly News|
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — The legislative battle dividing the 13th Parliament intensified on Tuesday after Opposition Chief Whip Tabitha Sarabo-Halley mounted a fierce defense of the opposition’s decision to nominate Forward Guyana Movement (FGM) Leader Amanza Walton-Desir to key parliamentary select committees.
Issuing an expansive public brief on social media, the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) parliamentarian flatly rejected assertions from House leadership that the move breached protocol, accusing government officials and parliamentary critics of willfully misrepresenting the Standing Orders to justify a political lockout.
The standoff follows a public ruling by Speaker of the National Assembly Manzoor Nadir, who declared that Walton-Desir was ineligible to sit on any of the 15 main parliamentary committees because her minor party failed to secure the necessary proportional votes to merit an automatic seat allocation. However, Sarabo-Halley argued that House staff are confusing raw seat-allocation mathematics with the fundamental constitutional eligibility of individual lawmakers.
“At the outset, it must be noted that the Standing Orders governing eligibility for committee membership and the composition of parliamentary committees are clear in principle,” Sarabo-Halley maintained. “Standing Order 85 basically says that any member of the Assembly—whether elected or non-elected—is eligible for membership of any committee.”
The Opposition Chief Whip asserted that while proportional calculations conducted by parliamentary staff did not directly award committee slots to the FGM as an independent entity, the broader opposition coalition remained fully entitled under the law to redistribute its own collectively earned committee seats to any lawmaker it saw fit. She maintained that the cross-party Committee of Selection possesses zero statutory authority to veto or reject nominations submitted by recognized parliamentary groups unless those names violate explicit, documented rules.
“There is no Standing Order. There is no rule. There is no section of the Standing Orders that indicates that there are exceptions to that particular rule,” Sarabo-Halley stated defiantly.
The WIN frontbencher also took direct aim at recent public warnings issued by Speaker Nadir regarding potential disciplinary actions against opposition lawmakers who criticize the chair or openly debate committee procedures on social media. Sarabo-Halley challenged the parliamentary directorate to produce the exact legal clauses they are relying on to threaten elected representatives with sanctions for keeping the Guyanese populace informed.
“It is contended that a breach of the Standing Orders has occurred, then the specific Standing Order relied upon should be clearly identified,” she argued. “I would like whoever made that statement to clearly identify which Standing Order is being relied upon to say that there was some breach.”
Disclosing her next procedural steps, Sarabo-Halley revealed that she has dispatched a formal, urgent letter to Speaker Manzoor Nadir demanding a comprehensive technical clarification regarding the events and legal interpretations surrounding the June 5 meeting of the Committee of Selection. With the opposition bench refusing to back down and the Speaker promising to handle infractions decisively at the next sitting of the National Assembly, the constitutional impasse is poised to test the procedural limits of the legislative house.
