Manzoor Nadir is new House Speaker, Lenox Shuman is Deputy

Last Updated on Tuesday, 1 September 2020, 10:38 by Denis Chabrol

Well-known Guyanese politician Manzoor Nadir on Tuesday became the Speaker of the 65-seat National Assembly.

There was no ceremonial opening of the Parliament which would include an address by the President.  The parliamentarians took the oath of office.

The Deputy House Speaker is Lenox Shuman, leader of the Liberty and Justice Party by a vote of 34 for, 31 against.

He was nominated by Prome Minister Mark Phillip’s and seconded by Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira.

Mr. Raphael Trotman of A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change was nominated to be Deputy Speaker by his colleague Cathy Hughes. Mr. Trotman is a former House Speaker who appeared to manage sessions in a balanced manner.

But Prime Minister Phillips nominated Mr. Shuman for that post and it was seconded by Ms. Teixeira then put to the vote.

Mr. Shuman is already an aviation advisor to the Minister of Public Works.

Mr. Nadir is a former leader of The United Force and parliamentary representative. During that tenure, he had vehemently opposed the now governing People’s Progressive Party.

After TUF collapsed, Mr. Nadir shifted closer to the PPP. The pro-capital8st United Force, under its then founder-leader Peter D’Aguiar, had coalesced with the People’s National Congress to dislodge the left-leaning PPP at the 1964 elections during the Cold War era.

Mr. Nadir had been a prominent Caribbean youth activist with support from Germany Konrad Adenauer Foundation.