Manzoor Nadir elected Speaker of 12th Parliament
─ Lenox Shuman is Deputy Speaker
Former Labour Minister, Mr. Manzoor Nadir was elected Speaker of the 12th Parliament, which opened on Tuesday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Liliendaal Greater Georgetown.
Mr. Nadir was nominated by Prime Minister, Hon. Brigadier (R’etd), Mark Phillips and seconded by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Hon. Gail Teixeira. There were no other nominations for the post of Speaker.
Mr. Nadir an Economist by profession has a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester through a Scholarship by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Germany). He also has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Alberta (Canada).
His early childhood education was at Dolphin Government School (Charlestown) at the primary level and then the Charlestown Government Secondary School.
With a political career spanning over 40 years, Mr. Nadir, served as the former leader of The New and United Force (TUF) and also in the Cabinet of the PPP government for 10 years during which time he held the position of Minister of Labour from 2001 to 2011.
During his previous Parliamentary stints, he piloted several Bills and Acts and served on many parliamentary Committees. Among the bills piloted were; the Guyana Tourism Authority Act, the Investment Act, the Small Business Act, the Competition and Fair-Trading Act and the Consumer Protection Bill.
Meanwhile, Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Lenox Shuman was elected as Deputy-Speaker. He is the first person of Indigenous heritage to hold the position. Mr. Shuman is from the joiner party; Liberty and Justice Party (LJP)/ A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and the New Movement Guyana (TNM).
Both Mr. Shuman and Opposition MP Mr. Raphael Trotman were nominated for the post. Mr. Shuman was nominated by Prime Minister, Phillips and seconded by Minister Teixeira.
MP Trotman, who also served as Speaker of House in the 11th Parliament was nominated by Opposition MP, Catherine Hughes. A vote was subsequently taken and Mr. Shuman emerged Deputy Speaker with 34 votes to 31 in favour of Mr. Trotman.
Besides breaking barriers as the first Indigenous person to serves as Deputy Speaker, Mr Shuman was Toshao for his village St. Cuthbert’s Mission in Region Four and also served as Vice Chairman of the National Toshaos Council.
He formally entered politics in 2019; forming the Liberty and Justice Party and contesting the March 2, 2020 elections as the Presidential Candidate.
After LJP. ANUG and TMN secured collectively one seat, Mr. Shuman was chosen to be the parties’ first parliamentary representative.
The Deputy Speaker is also a Commercial Pilot and is one of two Guyanese Pilots to have ever flown in the Canadian Arctic.