“There is no honest interlocutor on the other side”

While the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) plans to create an all inclusive structure of governance, that strategy is being hindered on the premise that the Parliamentary Opposition no longer holds “honest interlocutors” according to Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

As the 2020 National Budget Debates came to a close yesterday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Jagdeo during his presentation told the National Assembly that the calls for inclusion have been plenty but the Opposition has not been forthcoming with their support.
It should be noted that shortly after the Vice President began his presentation, the Opposition walked out.
“Mr. Speaker, you have to understand the dilemma we face today,” the Vice President said “There is no honest interlocutor on the other side. The people who are in Parliament today, many of them were the ones who not only sought to steal the elections but you see the arrogance about even the attempt to steal the elections.”
Jagdeo asked “How could they reasonably be honest interlocutors?” and added that the Opposition shows absolutely “no remorse” for the role they played in the five month long protracted 2020 General and Regional Elections.

He said “How do you work with people who have no remorse about the role they played in trying to divide our country first of all and also trying to steal a whole elections?”
According to the Vice President, the Opposition boasted of a few people who matured but they were later given the boot, only to be replaced with those who continue to push the “false rigging narrative.”
“So the problem today that we face,” he continued “is that there is no honest interlocutor on the other side who commands the people of the country and the base.”
Further, the Vice President noted that the actions of Opposition during the debates boast of “bravado” and “reinvention of false narratives.”

Jagdeo said that it is these very narratives that have been reinvented and adhered to over the past five months, which led to the promotion of “corrupt members” into the National Assembly.
The Vice President made claims that top Opposition officials who sit in the National Assembly are “neck-deep” in allegations of bribery, fuel smuggling and procurement fraud.
“Bid tampering, illegal approval of contracts, splitting of contracts, giving contracts to their friends and family,” Jagdeo said.

While he did not delve further into details, he made it clear that the nation would be “shocked” when the findings of these investigations are made public. Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon whoever, rebuffed these comments off, making it clear that the investigations will not affect them.
Harmon referred to the claims as mere “threats” and said “That’s all they’re doing, investigating and investigating and investigating. Govern – that’s what you’re there for.”