Guyana Opposition Legislator Resigns, Speaker Lifts Ban Order On Education Minister

GEORGETOWN, Guyana CMC – Jaipaul Sharma, a member of the opposition grouping, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), last Thursday, confirmed that he had resigned as a member of parliament following remarks made about his father by Education Minister Priya Manickchand.

Sharma told reporters that the Donald Ramotar administration was seeking to use his father’s legal problems as a political football, which he believes would be detrimental to the opposition.

“Maybe the PPP/C (People Progressive Party/Civic) is using this matter because there’s a possibility that they may go for a snap election and they may use this as an opportunity to cause the APNU votes. I don’t want to be that individual, I don’t want to be a political football.”

Earlier this week, Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman said Education Minister Priya Manickchand was not likely to make a contribution during the 2014 national budget debate after she refused to apologise for a statement she made against a sitting legislator.

Trotman said he would not recognise the minister, who is maintaining that her statements were not directed at the member of the opposition legislator.

The incident arose as APNU Volda Lawrence was urging legislators to ensure that girls and young women be protected from men who often get away with statutory rape.

Manickchand then shouted “Ask your member Sharma, ask your APNU Member Sharma!,” an apparent reference to the father of an APNU legislator who is before the courts on rape allegations.

Sharma then demanded an apology, but the minister refused.

The speaker ruled that the behaviour was out of order, making it clear that Manickchand would not be allowed to speak during the debate unless she offered an apology.

“Ms Manickchand, you will be speaking later and I would not recognise you to speak in this assembly any day on this debate, if that is the attitude you are going to take as a sitting member of this House,” said the speaker.

But despite the warning, the education minister maintained her position, saying she was not referring to the APNU legislator.

“I will say without reservation I was not referring to the APNU and I say that without reservation,” she added.

But the Speaker Thursday lifted a ban after telling legislators he was inclined to rescind the ban following a review of the tape of the incident that led to the action.
Trotman said he had been convinced that it was the senior Sharma that had been impugned and not the opposition legislator thereby meaning there was no need for an apology to him.

But in a statement, the APNU said it “is dissatisfied with the statement of the Minister of Education Ms. Priya Manickchand to APNU Member of Parliament Mr. Jaipaul Sharma.

“Mr. Jaipaul Sharma is a vital member of the APNU team. The Partnership stands solidly in support of him,” the statement added.

Sharma told reporters that he believed he did the honourable thing by resigning and wanted it to be clear that no one in the House was irreplaceable.

He said his political party, Justice For All Party (JFAP) one of the several opposition parties within the APNU, would remain in the coalition.

“The only JFAP member we have on the list is Mr. (Melvin) Sankies so if we’re not in parliament … the Partnership is 10 members, five of them are outside so we you could say we’re still in there,” Sharma said.

APNU Chairman David Granger said he had not yet received notice of Sharma’s resignation.