The APNU seems intent on making maximum use of the combined opposition’s one-seat parliamentary majority, announcing on Thursday that it will be taking a motion to the National Assembly calling for the set up of a Commission of Inquiry to probe how the government buys pharmaceuticals.

The announcement at the coalition’s news conference came two days after it revealed that it will also be tabling a motion to block the government’s implementation of electricity tariff increases for Region 10 before certain economic measures are in place.

The latest controversy stems from reports in the Kaieteur News which claim that the government has been paying inflated prices for pharmaceuticals it sources from the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC), an entity with close ties to former President Bharrat Jagdeo.

“Given the gravity of the situation, A Partnership for National Unity will take a motion to the National Assembly to have President Donald Ramotar urgently put in place an independent Commission of Inquiry with full investigatory power,” APNU’s Shadow Health Minister Dr. George Norton stated.

AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan at a news briefing later in the day indicated that his party would support such a call.

Dr. Norton noted that the reports have led Health Minister Dr. Bheri Ramsaran to probe drug purchases and said that this was a welcomed development but added that they had no confidence in his findings which were announced on Wednesday.

The minister told reporters that the newspapers assertions were “spurious counterfeit claims.”

“One finds it strange that it’s only after the screaming headlines in the newspaper that the minister decided to have a probe into this and in that short space of time he announced that there was going to be a probe he was capable of coming out and saying nothing is amiss.

Meanwhile, APNU’s Volda Lawrence added that she hoped Dr. Ramsaran would publish the report with his findings and lay it in the National Assembly.