No discussion by Commonwealth about situation in Guyana -Rodrigues-Birkett

In the wake of a statement by the British High Commissioner here that Guyana is in breach of the Commonwealth Charter by virtue of its suspension of Parliament among other things, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has established with the Commonwealth Secretary General that there has been no discussion about the situation in Guyana.

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs follows:

Further to pronouncements by the British High Commissioner, H.E Andrew Ayre, that Guyana has breached the Commonwealth Charter and can be reviewed as was done in the case of Fiji, it became necessary for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honorable Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett to speak to the Commonwealth Secretary General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma, to clarify whether the Commonwealth has made such a determination as the Government of Guyana received no communication to this effect.   The Secretary General confirmed that there has been no discussion about the situation in Guyana with the British Government or its High Commissioner in Georgetown or by any other Commonwealth body for that matter. As such, there has been no conclusion by the Commonwealth that Guyana is in breach of the Commonwealth Charter.

The statement made by the outgoing British High Commissioner is therefore most misleading.