See full statement from the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC):
The APNU+AFC Coalition received images today from concerned citizens showing Parliament staff, PPP’s Minister Deodat Indar and unconstitutional Parliamentary Secretary Vickash Ramkissoon, distributing toys to children in People’s Progressive Party strongholds in Region 3.
We were further informed that the annual toy distribution hosted by the Speaker of the National Assembly has now been usurped by the PPP as a number of Ministers and Members of Parliament have been spotted with Parliament staff sharing out toys in various communities.
These revelations are concerning as the Speaker of the National Assembly has decided that the staff of the institution, who are supposed to remain impartial, could be made to do political work on behalf of the PPP with no protection from the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Mr. Manzoor Nadir has chosen to ignore his constitutional duty as Speaker, displaying his partisan nature while forcing his staff to be used as political pawns.
We wish to make it known that no member of the APNU+AFC opposition was invited to be a part of any toy distribution by the Speaker and that this can only be seen for what it is, a People’s Progressive Party toy distribution to its support base.
We in the APNU+AFC Coalition strongly condemn the action of Speaker Manzoor Nadir which can only be deemed as discriminatory, wicked and a direct attack on the innocence of our nation’s children who at this tender age should be taught lessons of togetherness and equity not
divisiveness and unfairness.
The APNU+AFC Coalition is calling on the Speaker of the National Assembly to fix this atrocity and keep his political bias to himself and not spite a specific section of our nation’s children at the behest of his political bosses.
