Former Education Minister Nicolette Henry delivered what was her last presentation to the National Assembly on Wednesday as she has resigned to make way for Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Aubrey Norton.
Fighting to hold back tears, Henry closed her presentation during the ongoing budget debates by confirming that it was her final presentation to the House.
“This is my final budget presentation in this House,” she said.
Earlier the Speaker of the National Assembly had announced that Henry was not going to participate in the debates.
But he later apologised and allowed Henry to deliver the final address.
The APNU+AFC Parliamentarian opened her presentation by saying, “I will fulfil my sacred duty to make my contribution to the 2022 budget debates… I refuse to be silenced.”
She thanked former President David Granger and former Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon for his unwavering support. She described him as her “friend.”
“I am forever grateful to the people of this country who afforded me the opportunity to serve them with professionalism and dignity,” Henry said as she also offered a special thank you to AFC Parliamentarian Khemraj Ramjattan for his support and guidance.
“I want to thank each and every member in this House for the commitment and dedication they bring each and every day, sometimes under the most difficult circumstances.
“I thank my family who had my back and supported my every decision.
“Today it is with those words that I part company and I conclude my contribution to budget 2022,” she said.
At the end, all Opposition MPs stood and clapped and the Speaker thanked Henry in return.
Most of the Opposition MPs left the Chamber shortly after along with Henry. Henry has been an APNU+AFC parliamentarian since 2015.
On the outside, she would only say that there was a need for someone to resign and so she did. Henry assured that it was a decision she was totally comfortable with.
Norton is expected to be sworn in as a Member of Parliament later this week.
He had been meeting with selected APNU+AFC MPs since Monday to see who would resign to allow for him to be in Parliament.
“Nicolette has agreed to be the sacrificial lamb,” an Executive Member of the PNC/R told the News Room.
Once sworn in as an MP, Norton is likely to also take up the vacant post of Opposition Leader.
Just a week ago, Joseph Harmon who lost the PNC/R leadership elections to Norton last December, resigned from the post of Opposition Leader under mounting pressure.
Harmon, however, remains an MP and has refused to give up that post altogether.
Once sworn in, Norton will become the leader of the PNC/R, the A Partnership for National Unity and Opposition Leader.
He will not be the Representative of the List. Former President David Granger, who Norton replaced as Leader of the PNC/R, remains the leader of the list with the administrative responsibility to reshuffle MPs.
There are talks that Norton wants other serving MPs to be recalled to make way for other Executive members of the Party to go to Parliament.
