By Travis Chase | HGP Nightly News |
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA — President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s planned consultations with two key parliamentary sectoral committees have run into a major political impasse, as both parliamentary opposition factions—We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)—have formally refused to participate in the scheduled sessions.
Less than 24 hours after the Head of State announced his intention to convene back-to-back meetings with the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Relations and the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Economic Services, both opposition parties issued separate statements rejecting the initiative. The joint boycott leaves the administration facing sharp criticism over executive overreach, procedural irregularities, and retroactive consultation.
President Ali had presented the meetings as a goodwill initiative to brief lawmakers on macroeconomic performance, energy sector developments, and cost-of-living mitigation.
“Later this week, I’m having two meetings—one with the Foreign Relations [Committee] of the Parliament and one with the Economic Services Committee of the Parliament, because I believe in working and letting everyone understand what we are doing at the policy level,” President Ali announced.
WIN Accuses Executive of Bypassing Opposition Leader, Cites State Harassment
The WIN parliamentary bloc, led by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, condemned the proposed engagement as an unconstitutional maneuver designed to undermine the statutory architecture of the National Assembly:
- Disregard for Constitutional Role: In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition accused President Ali of circumventing the constitutional office of the Opposition Leader by attempting to engage parliamentary committees directly without formal inter-branch protocol.
- Absence of Agenda: WIN revealed that the meeting invitations were dispatched without an agenda, discussion topics, or preparatory briefing papers. While the party formally sought clarification and an agenda from the Speaker of the National Assembly, it received no substantive response.
- State Retaliation and Detentions: WIN explicitly tied its refusal to recent state actions against its members and supporters, citing arbitrary police detentions, the seizure of mobile devices and vehicles, and allegations of degrading treatment while individuals were held in state custody.
The party maintained that while it remains open to constructive dialogue with the executive branch, such interactions must be transparent and strictly respect the constitutional independence of Parliament and the political opposition.
APNU Rejects ‘Decorative’ Consultation, Demands Full Gas-to-Energy Accounting
While indicating that its committee members have no fundamental objection to meeting the Head of State under proper arrangements, APNU insisted that consultation must precede executive commitments rather than serve as public relations cover for fait accompli decisions.
The party warned that parliamentary attendance must not be weaponized by the government as an implicit endorsement of settled policies:
- Prerequisites for Dialogue: APNU demanded the advance release of a substantive agenda alongside all relevant source documents, financing agreements, and socioeconomic impact assessments.
- Demands on Energy Policy: The party insisted that President Ali account for persistent nationwide electricity outages, provide a transparent disclosure of the original and revised capital costs for the Wales Gas-to-Energy (GtE) project, reveal contractor settlement terms, and table a credible timeline for the delivery of cheaper electricity. It also sought answers regarding contracts involving Lindsayca and grid generation deficits.
- Economic Governance: APNU called for comprehensive plans to tackle foreign exchange shortages, currency depreciation pressures on the Guyanese dollar, cost-of-living inflation, delays in school construction, strained relations with independent trade unions, and statutory safeguards for withdrawals from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF).
Summing up its refusal to attend, APNU declared that genuine consultation must be capable of altering state policy, maintaining that its members of parliament “will not simply decorate decisions already taken.”
