Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 December 2025, 23:29 by Writer
The opposition Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Wednesday assailed President Irfaan Ali for opting to deliver an address outlining his administration’s five-year policy agenda outside of a customary parliamentary sitting.
FGM Leader, Amanza Walton-Desir went as far as questioning whether the diplomatic community was comfortable with a five-year national agenda being delivered outside of parliament, while Parliament itself remains paralysed and without a leader of the opposition.
She also queried whether they were complicit in the erosion of long-standing democratic practice, or simply choosing silence.
“What makes this moment even more concerning is that this departure from established parliamentary practice is taking place with the apparent acquiescence of the diplomatic community,” she said in a separate Facebook post.
Ms Walton-Desir observed that there was no insistence on the reconvening of parliament, proper functioning of parliamentary democracy, including the appointment of a leader of the opposition and the resumption of parliamentary business.
“Guyanese must therefore understand that we are entering a period in which we cannot assume that external actors will speak up in defence of our democratic institutions. The responsibility to protect parliamentary democracy, constitutional norms, and the balance of power rests squarely with us,” she said.
The FGM Leader said conventionally such an address is made to the parliament and, even if the opposition chooses to boycott, that address is properly recorded in the Hansard, the official parliamentary records.
It is unclear why Dr Ali did not deliver his address to the parliament, but speculation in some quarters is that the President is avoiding a sitting of parliament that will include the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Azruddin Mohamed who, along with his father, is wanted by the US for trial for financial crimes. They are fighting an extradition in the court.
House Speaker Manzoor Nadir is also yet to call a meeting of opposition MPs for Mr Mohamed to be elected constitutionally as Guyana’s Opposition Leader.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall has also indicated that that would not do Guyana’s image any good.
For his part, APNU MP Sherod Duncan labeled a “democratic red flag” the launching of the five-year agenda outside of parliament and the exclusion of the opposition.
He poured cold water on President Ali’s decision to deliver his five-year agenda outside the door of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown rather than inside where parliamentary sittings are held.
“The symbolism of a President standing outside the legislature to announce a multi-year vision is stark and deeply troubling. It signals a deliberate choice to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and to treat democratic institutions as optional. In a functioning democracy, such an agenda would be tabled before the National Assembly, subjected to debate, and shaped through representation, not announced as a fait accompli,” he said.
He found equally disturbing the “complete exclusion” of the parliamentary opposition from the unveiling of the President’s five-year agenda.
Mr Duncan did not regard the exclusion of opposition lawmakers as accidental.
He said the opposition, elected to represent a significant portion of the electorate, was “deliberately locked out of a process that should have been national and inclusive”.
Nevertheless, he vowed that a formal and rigorous scrutiny of the government’s plan will follow shortly, through the appropriate parliamentary and public channels.
“Guyanese deserve a future shaped transparently, debated openly, and anchored in democratic accountability, not one unveiled outside locked doors and shielded from immediate examination,” he added.
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