| NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – Tempers flared at the November statutory meeting of the Region Six Democratic Council, which was held last week.The issue at hand is what the opposition members are calling a blatant attempt to silence them.Chief Whip of the People’s National Congress, Regional Councillor Winston Samuels, explained during an interview with the Kaieteur News that, since March 2007, he was monitoring the minutes of the statutory meetings. “I discovered and found out that the minutes are not reflecting the true issues debated at the statutory meeting. The Administration changed the format by deleting an item – “Matters of privilege and public interest.” Under this item, any councillor had the privilege of addressing any pertinent issue that was affecting the region as well as your constituency.”The councillors in the Region Six Democratic Council boardroom.Mr. Samuels further added that the deleted item was replaced by a committee system. “This is their attempt to silence those of us who are on the opposition side. But it did not work that way, because at all these statutory meetings,Cheap NFL Jerseys, when these committees’ reports are presented and opened for debate, they have discovered that they have not achieved their objectives — that is, to silence us on the opposition side. I have gotten reliable information that even before the minutes were presented and objected at the September meeting, we were well aware that there was division of the ranks in the People’s Progressive Party Civic. They are using different tactics that are denying us the right to speak. Whenever you attempt to elaborate on the issue, it is always an offence on the PPP Civic side, to an extent that some of their councillors get into the habit of using all sorts of sarcastic remarks and slurs. Whenever you try to object and correct a matter, they will ask you to sit down and be quiet, or leave the meeting.”According to Mr. Samuels, sometimes, when the minutes are changed, distortion steps in and the notes carry a different meaning.“The impression anyone reading the minutes would get is that the opposition parties are not making any contribution whatsoever to the development of the region, because nothing they said is reflected in the minutes. Even if it is reflected, it is not carrying the true meaning,Cheap MLB Jerseys China, because words and phrases were changed to suit one particular group of the day.”Mr. Samuels said that the time has come for this to end. “Belief supersedes knowledge, and our plan as from now on…we are seriously addressing the leadership and direction of the region. With the findings, we would take all actions necessary within the frame of the law to correct the imbalanced situation.”The Regional Chairman, Zulfikar Mustapha, said over the weekend that, based on the Local Government Order, the present agenda item was agreed to by all the councillors during the first statutory meeting for this new body of councilors.“At that time, we set up over 12 sub-committees, and matters of importance are usually channelled through these sub-committees, which would in turn make the necessary recommendations to the Regional Democratic Council. All councillors of the Regional Democratic Council are members of the various sub-committees. The sub-committees have been doing a very important job.”The Regional Chairman spoke also of the absence of some opposition councillors at these committee meetings which, he said, is the reason they cannot raise issues of concern. “Many of them want to bog down the RDC statutory meeting with very petty issues.”At the boardroom last Thursday, where the November statutory meeting was held, Mr. Samuels said that the blame is always shifted whenever the minutes are not accurate. “The recurrence of this incident tells a story…You have betrayed our trust…the changing of the format was done deliberately to deny us on the opposition side. Our national constitutional right is threatened!”The Regional Chairman informed him that the minutes for the September meeting had many grammatical errors. “If you know your grammar, you would see that…This is a democratic meeting, no one is tied down here…you can’t make a wild accusation like that!”The People’s National Congress Chief Whip Samuels said that the minutes not only had grammatical errors, but were filled with omissions.Alliance For Change Councillor Shaun Smith, at the meeting, said that his statements were omitted from one of the minutes. Mr. Smith claimed that whatever is said by opposition parties is left out of the minutes, or changed in the minutes.The Alliance For Change Councillor told his fellow councillors that he made statements on July 3rd and they were omitted from the minutes of August 7th. On September 4th, he indicated, it was omitted.“At the sitting of the RDC, I again indicated to this council of the statement I made, and I quoted again statements made by members of the opposition, particularly the AFC councilors, are blatantly left out, being reconstructed, and/or rearticulated when printed in the minutes to reflect a totally different message and position of those duly elected representatives. This is clearly an act to undermine the degree of representation made by the AFC in the region.”Mr. Smith further added: “This cannot be accepted as a printing error, but, rather, a deliberate vetting of fellow councilors. I must let this house know that omissions and rearticulating of statements are so continuous and massive that it amounts to political provocation. Having said that, I wish to turn our attention to issues of political distrust within this RDC. Mr. Chairman, since 2007 I have been calling for the presence of a tape recorder at every sitting of every council. Mr. Chairman,Wholesale Jerseys, you agreed and personally promised that you will ensure that it is in place, but today it is still not available.”When the meeting continued, a People’s Progressive Party councilor, B. Roopnarine, spoke of a presentation she made at the October meeting on agriculture which was omitted from the minutes.Subsequently, as the Alliance For Change councillor argued that, by altering some words, the meaning of the entire sentence could be changed, the Regional Chairman asked him to have his seat, saying it appeared as though it was his intention to disrupt that meeting.Regional Vice Chairman Dennis Deoroop told the Alliance For Change councillor that he was very disrespectful,Cheap Jerseys From China, and asked him to conduct himself in a proper manner. Eventually, Mr. Smith was ordered not to speak for the remainder of the meeting.At this point, a People’s National Congress councillor said: “What goes for one must go for all.”During an interview with the Kaieteur News, the Regional Chairman said that the minutes are recorded by the official note taker. “The particular month he (AFC councilor) is referring to, the note taker was on leave and, as such, another person took the minutes. During our September statutory meeting, it was unanimously decided that the minutes were not up to standard due to the amount of grammatical errors and decisions and statements were left out. It was decided that we will look at the minutes at a subsequent meeting after the corrections were made.”Mr. Mustapha said this was done,China Jerseys, and at last week’s meeting it was accepted and confirmed after the changes were made.“Many statements made by even PPP/C councillors were left out. The proper procedure is that it is corrected at a meeting. As Chairman, it seems to me that Councillor Smith does not know the proper procedure of a meeting, and as such I feel he should acquaint himself with the procedure and rules governing a proper meeting. At many meetings he is not making any significant contribution. He is under pressure from his own party and, as such, I was informed that he was threatened that he would be removed. His other AFC councillor usually makes very constructive contributions to the Regional Democratic Council, as reflected in minutes.” The Regional Chairman said that there is a healthy relationship among councillors of all political parties represented at the Regional Democratic Council level. “I was very tolerant of Mr. Smith. First of all, he was out of order and his mode of dress left much to be desired. He was wearing a tee-shirt which was out of his trousers. I feel as a councillor he should dress properly before entering the boardroom for any statutory meeting. Remember, he is also representing his party. His leaders should look into this matter, because, in Parliament, where I function, one must be properly attired.”According to Mr. Mustapha, the Speaker of the House ordered a Member of Parliament to leave because of his mode of dress.Come the December statutory meeting,Cheap Jeseys NFL, the dress code must be in effect before councillors can enter. |
