'Two heads of the same monster'
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'Two heads of the same monster'
- Nagamootoo argues
Guyana Chronicle
April 13, 2000
INFORMATION Minister, Mr Moses Nagamootoo, is disappointed at the level of some contributions during the debate on the 2000 budget in the National Assembly.
They were "lacklustre" and "lukewarm" and much disinformation and misinformation was served in the sessions under the guise of debate, he declared.
His charge came last Friday night during the wrap-up session of the week-long 2000 budget debate.
The National Assembly yesterday approved the Appropriations Bill 2000, ending the session on the budget.
Mr Nagamootoo argued that the "underlying imputation was that those who are in fact in the Opposition, by various stratagem, would wish that they replace the elected party in the governing seat."
"When you listen to several of the members from the People's National Congress (PNC) benches concluding their contributions, or lack thereof, they would say come January 17 (2001) the PNC would form the government...and when you listen to (Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, who spoke immediately before him) he says come January 17, there should be no elections but the PPP should be out of the government - that he has a formula for another government...", he said.
They are "two heads of the same monster, the monster that is driven by the obsession for power", he declared.
"And this is what the debate has been reduced to here; not contributions or comments as to the efficacy of the budget proposals but an undying desire even from those who benefited from leftover seats (votes) to have seats in Parliament, to have power", he said.
Nagamootoo said it was not surprising that after 45 minutes, Roopnaraine, of the opposition Alliance For Guyana (AFG), during his presentation said, "I'm now making my first point."
He felt much of what Roopnaraine said had not been meant for a budget debate but as a forum for excursion into the political subset and his own party's understanding of the political subset and where he thinks miniscule parties stand in the subset.
"It is a lot of glorification of the self in the political process, but I was very amused, though not disappointed, that for everything that could be said about the sector over which I have responsibility - Information - that (Roopnaraine) has said only one line...that `CNS' (Channel Six) is in fact the flagship of television in Guyana.
"And it bothers me, it really bothers me, because I am wondering what the hundreds of thousands of Guyanese would have been saying today if they had gone complaining to CNS that we want to see the cricket matches; it bothers me that that flagship to which people have a recourse to complain has no access of complaint because there could have been no remedy whatsoever for that complaint."
Nagamootoo said it was only GTV 11, the state television, that "found a remedy for the people's quest, the people's desire, the people's necessities and demands that public television must provide them with what they want to see, and not a comedy, a sitcom for television (referring to CNS Channel Six)".
He suggested that "when we come in this assembly we must be very careful that we also come with honesty".
Noting that Roopnaraine tried to castigate the state media, he said the opposition member "didn't tell us that over the years when you had one television station and it was limping."
"When I took over as Information Minister, there was no state television, you had nothing to complain of," he pointed out.
The Information Minister said Roopnaraine should "have had that courage of conviction and honesty to stand up and say that out of nothing came the GTV and today GTV transmit signals throughout Guyana, from one coast to another".
"...it is not a question of who owns it, it is a question that our country, Guyana, has the capacity to communicate with its people via a common, a single transmission set," he stressed.
Nagamootoo, however, said communication doesn't have to do only with complaints or belly-aching, pointing out that complaints abound in that "everyone complains".
"The political subset is important when we discuss the budget, and I share Dr Roopnaraine's concern, though for different reasons - that we cannot look at the budget in isolation from the political environment," he said.
He claimed the AFG member was "...hustling after his so-called impossible dream, a transitional government beyond the legitimate government."
Nagamootoo also said that he could, as Chairman of the Oversight Committee on Constitutional Reform, comment on the matter which Roopnaraine raised with regards to the Herdmanston `peace' Accord signed between the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/Civic) and the PNC in January 1998.
Under the accord, elections are due by January 17 next year.
The minister noted the budget provides $1 billion for the coming elections and that this must be spent on elections within the scope and the context of the Herdmanston Accord.
"It is not I...who had said that there would be trouble if there are no elections by January 17. I agree with the PNC leader that there must be elections on or before January 17, 2001, and we budgeted for that...I agree with the PNC leader (Mr Desmond Hoyte) that there should be nomination day, perhaps looking at the timeframe, on or before December 7", he said.
"He wants that and I support that. I agree with the PNC leader that there should be a campaign among the people of Guyana before, during and after Christmas, on the eve of the new millennium; I agree that we should bid with the churches and the chiming of the bells as we go out with our loud speakers on the pavement...I agree with Mr Hoyte that there should be elections, even preferably before Christmas Day.
"I agree...because the Herdmanston Accord says that elections must be held by January 17, 2001, and it will be held", he said to loud desk thumping from the government side.
Nagamootoo continued: "So we are ready, this budget provides for it; we are ready to go with those elections and I believe that not only have we agreed on the date...(but, also) we will try to attract a body of observers from around the world; we will try to encourage them to stay away from the glitter and the glitz of the metropolis...to come to our dear beloved Guyana because the Herdmanston Accord and Mr Hoyte insisted...that there must be elections and I...support the gentleman because I love Guyana and I do not want his predictions that all hell would break loose, I do not want his prediction to come through, in the interest of all Guyana.
"My party doesn't want that and I believe that all Guyana doesn't want that..."
Nagamootoo said his side will act in good faith, adding that it would be remiss of him if he did not, at this historic point, place on the record his deepest abiding appreciation for the "fact that among our ranks has walked, worked and served the genuine architect of unity, peace and cooperation, the late Cheddi Jagan."
He, however, said all must also make this quest for peace and cooperation sustainable. (GUYANA INFORMATION SERVICES)
