PPP/C could make Parliament debut today

Georgetown: The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will be attending Parliament today (Thursday) to take up their allotted 32 seats as the parliamentary Opposition.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), since its defeat at the May 11 elections, has never attended any of the sittings of the 11th Parliament since it opened on June 10.

While the party’s General Secretary Clement Rohee has maintained the party is not sure when it will be heading to the National Assembly, the PPP/C has officially submitted its list of candidates for the 11th Parliament (2015-2020) to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and the Office of the Parliament of Guyana.

The PPP/C was yesterday present at a special orientation session for new Parliamentarians, which saw newcomers Charles Ramson, son of former Attorney General Charles Ramson Sr; Harry Gill; former head of the National Toshaos Council; Yvonne Pearson; former Permanent Secretary of Amerindian Affairs Ministry, now Indigenous Peoples’ Ministry, Nigel Dharamlall; Zulfikar Mustapha, former Permanent Secretary of what was previously known as the Local Government Ministry, now the Ministry of Communities, Collin Croal.

The move by the PPP/C could see some hope in the appointment of the AML/CFT Authority ahead of the FATF meeting in Paris this October, where Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, will present Guyana’s case.

Guyana will come before the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in October of this year, and while the Parliament has approved the amendment to the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) legislation, clearing the way for international financial compliance, there are still measures to be implemented before the country is in the safe zone. The AML/CFT Act, which was approved by President David Granger in early July, will see the appointment of a 10-member AML/CFT Authority. That authority is to be set up on the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments.

The Committee is made up of all members of the National Assembly, both Government and Opposition, which must have meaningful consultation on the names of appointees to constitutional and other legislative agencies.