Opposition protest election of deputy speaker

GEORGETOWN (CMC):

Former government minister Manzoor Nadir was on Tuesday elected unopposed as Speaker of the National Assembly, but the opposition legislators walked out to protest the election of Lenox Shuman as deputy speaker

Nadir was nominated by Prime Minister Mark Phillips. The long-standing legislator was first elected in 1992 at end of the United Force political party.

“Having sat in this very House for some 23-plus years as a member on both the opposition and government sides, I understand the importance of this position and I promise to be impartial, fair, and just while upholding the rules, laws and procedures in the execution of my responsibilities as Speaker of this honourable House.

“The veracity of this noble institution must and will be upheld at all times during my tenure,” Nadir said in his acceptance speech.

Opposition members of the coalition walked out of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, where the parliament had been convened for its first sitting following the disputed March 2 regional and general election that the Guyana Elections Commission said had been won by the main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

They claimed that the government is sending a distressing and sad signal in selecting Shuman as deputy speaker, and that the administration had no willingness to work with the opposition in the National Assembly.