GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, Azruddin Mohamed, says he looks forward to being elected opposition leader after the Speaker, Manzoor Nadir, said a meeting will be held on Monday next week to decide on the matter.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, during his address to the Guyana population on Tuesday night (CMC PHoto)“I will be even more excited and even more happy to push to represent the people,” Mohamed said, after Nadir in a broadcast on the state-owned and government controlled National Communications Network (NCN) on Tuesday night, also took a swipe at sections of the diplomatic community that had been public in their calls for the election of an opposition leader.
“I intended to convene the meeting for the election of the leader of the opposition, regardless of how that vote would go. If opposition members of parliament feel it morally right to elect an international fugitive, then the stain on our parliament and our country rests solely with them.
“I have every intention of continuing my tenure as Speaker to honour and uphold the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. Also, I have an obligation to preserve the dignity of the House”, Nadir said in announcing that the meeting will be held at 10.00 am (local time)on the same day that the government presents the national budget to Parliament.
He described as absurd the statements made by the diplomats from the United States, Canada, European Union, and the United Kingdom in calling for the election of the opposition speaker following the September 1 regional and general election last year that saw the return of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to office.
“Our 13th Parliament from the time it was convened on November 3rd, has been functioning. In excess of 90 questions and five motions have been received by the Clerk, analysed, processed and decisions communicated to Opposition members.
“Among the comments made by some members of the diplomatic community include the election of the leader of the opposition in a speedy manner. To the US Ambassador I ask, who is the Leader of the Opposition in your country. Does the absence of an opposition leader interfere with your country’s democratic process?
“To my dear friend, Sebastian (Sigouin) from the Canadian High Commission, your great great democracy took six months to produce a budget last year, and your country has the unique distinction of having a person who was never elected to Parliament serve as a Prime Minister. A person imposed on the citizens of Canada by the former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. “We acknowledge with gratitude, much appreciation, the work of the Diplomatic community, historically for the support of democracy in our country,” Nadir said.
Nadir has so far not called the constitutionally required meeting of opposition legislators to elect the opposition leader amid speculation that he has been instructed by the Irfaan Ali government not to do so because Mohamed, the front runner for the position is facing extradition to the United States on fraud and other related charges.
President Ali has denied the accusation and Attorney General Anil Nandlall is on record as saying that electing Mohamed as opposition leader would tarnish the country’s image.
WIN is the party with the second highest number of seats in the Parliament with 16, surpassing the coalition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) that had commanded the position in the last parliament.
Earlier this week, the leader of the minority opposition, Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), Amanza Walton-Desir, has threatened to boycott next Monday’s 2026 national budget presentation to Parliament if an opposition leader is not selected by that time.
On Tuesday, Mohamed, who failed in his quest to have a meeting with Nadit, told reporters that he wanted the government to know “we won’t take this lightly…If we have to arrange peaceful protests, we’ll hit the streets next”.
In his address themed as “Address to the Nation,” Nadir said he has been bombarded with “vile aspersions” which he said were hurled at him by Mohamed, whom he described as “an international fugitive offender”.
“I have found myself in this difficult position to hold the election of the leader of the opposition when I know that the presumptive Leader of the Opposition to be elected as an international fugitive”
Nadir was also critical of the daily Stabroek News newspaper for its reporting on the issue and repeatedly stated that he is not a fugitive and has never been sanctioned as he described as “nasty”, the statements that have been thrown in his direction by Mohamed and the WIN party.
He also used the broadcast to deny claims of corruption.
Mohamed said that Nadir bowed to local and international pressure in recent weeks for the country’s democracy to benefit from that constitutional office.
“International pressure – the international community spoke, the people of the country were upset, even their (PPP/C ) own supporters and then today (Tuesday) I mentioned that we won’t take it lightly,” he said.
Mohamed said that since the Speaker’s announcement, he has been inundated with congratulatory messages after a “long, journey, a long fight”.
The WIN Leader maintained that whatever he had said recently about Nadir were facts and do not reflect on the desired independence of his office as Speaker of the 65-seat National Assembly.
APNU parliamentary leader, Dr Terrence Campbell, had said on Tuesday that he filed a High Court action for the scrapping of the Teaching Service Commission because President Ali’s appointment of that body was done without consulting the opposition leader.
