PNCR says not involved
The AFC says there has been renewed talk about a third term for President Bharrat Jagdeo and the party is totally against this or an extension of his present term.
While responding to a question about the state of political dialogue between the government and parliamentary opposition at a press briefing at the Sidewalk Café yesterday, Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Raphael Trotman said that there was renewed chatter in political circles about facilitating a third term for Jagdeo or alternatively an extension to his current term.
Asked who was involved in the discussions, Trotman said that he would only say that he was aware of the talks but would make no further disclosures at this stage.
However, he said that the Leader of the Opposition, who is also the PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, has been meeting with the President as Leader of the Opposition without informing the AFC and GAP-ROAR either before or after the meetings.
He said that the PPP as a party also seems “very comfortable” with Jagdeo at the helm of a government and it appears to also be unperturbed about human rights abuses being committed against civilians, including the detention of former army officer Oliver Hinckson.
The PNCR, as the major opposition, on the other hand, he charged, has not been leading the way in opposing these abuses.
Stabroek News was unable to contact Corbin on the issue of a third term for Jagdeo by telephone but the party’s chairman and acting leader, Winston Murray when contacted said, “I would definitively say that the PNCR as a party is not involved in any discussions with President Jagdeo and, or the PPP to extend the President’s term in office or to give him a third term in office.”
In May, 2007 when asked at one of the PNCR’s weekly press briefings about an allegation that he was considering proposing an amendment to the constitution to allow Jagdeo a third term in office, Corbin had denied even considering the matter. Allowing for a third term would require an amendment to the constitution which would also need two-thirds majority support in parliament, which means that the main opposition would have to lend its support.
In early August this year following the PPP’s triennial congress, PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar had said that a third term for Jagdeo was not an issue. He had said that the issue of a third term was mentioned in a speech by senior party member Reepu Daman Persaud in passing but there was no discussion on it.
Though he had said that there was no discussion on a mechanism for a choice of the presidential candidate, Stabroek News has learnt that there have been some discussions on having President Jagdeo remain within a future government at a very senior position as Prime Minister and a Vice President.
The government, Stabroek News understands, may activate Article 102 of the constitution which says that the President may appoint Vice-Presidents for the purpose of assisting him in the discharge of his functions. It says, too, that the Prime Minister by virtue of his office will be a Vice-President and he shall have precedence over any other Vice-President.
On October 7, 2007, when Jagdeo was given a chance to clear the air on whether he was interested in a third term in office he had said that he was not going to get sucked into all of these “rumours.” (Miranda La Rose)
