PPP says Ministry of Presidency is deliberately delaying the opposition party’s work by not handing over office fully

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Georgetown : The Office of the Leader of the Opposition calls attention to the dishonest and conflicting  statements emanating from the Minister of State Mr Joseph Harmon with respect to the transfer of the assets for Leader of the Opposition’s office.

Ms Gail Teixeira, Chief Whip of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP),  is the appointed person  to receive the assets on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition and has been in constant contact with the Clerk of the National Assembly Mr. Sherlock Isaacs to facilitate the handover.

Ms Teixeira had indicated the intention of moving the assets on Monday, October 5, 2015 and same was communicated to Mr. Isaacs.

According to the PPP, on Saturday evening, she was advised that the transfer could not be done on Monday, as Mr Harmon had indicated that “they are not ready as yet,”hence the date was change to Thursday October 8, 2015.

During this period, Mr. Harmon publicly declared  that with regards to the transfer of the assets, that,“They could have it now, they could have had it last week.”

However,  upon arrival at the former Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Ms Teixeira and two other Members of  Parliament  were advised by one Mr. Backer  that they were only allowed to move a few desks and chairs, a photocopier, two filing cabinets, a partition and a water dispenser.

Further, they  were told that the remaining items which are located  in the upper flat of the building could not be handed over since Advisers from the Ministry of the Presidency were still using them. There were also items on the ground floor, which had the Office of the Leader of the Opposition tags, which were not allowed to be moved.

There was no definite indication as to when these items will become available  so as to complete the setting up of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, a constitutional Office.

The Ministry of the Presidency has no role in the transfer of the assets from the Parliment Office to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition.

The opposition PPP now claims that his intrusion by the Ministry of the Presidency is a deliberate attempt to stymie the work of the Leader of the Opposition.