The PNCR yesterday reiterated that it will never support an amendment to the constitution to allow President Bharrat Jagdeo to contest the Presidency for a third term.
Speaking at the party’s weekly press conference at Congress Place, PNCR-1G MP Keith Scott, who read from a prepared statement, said that for the President to be granted a third term in office, the Opposition would first have to agree to this and he emphasized that this will not happen.
The party’s statements come after the actions earlier this week of a shadowy group calling itself the “Guyanese Coalition For Jagdeo Third Term” (GCFJTT). The group has been distributing flyers and buttons campaigning for Jagdeo to be supported for a third run for the presidency. The members of the group remain unknown.
PNCR Leader Robert Corbin, who was present at yesterday’s press conference, told this newspaper on Wednesday that whoever was responsible for the actions of the group was “out of touch with reality because it will never happen.”
At the press conference, the PNCR labelled these recent actions as “political games” by the PPP intended to take the attention away from the various controversies ensnaring the PPP/C administration.
However, the PPP, through its General Secretary Donald Ramotar, has said that it is not in any way affiliated with the group and its activities. He also called the actions of this group mischievous since President Jagdeo has repeatedly denied having an interest in contesting for the presidency for a third time. Officials employed at the Office of the President have also stated that they are unaware as to who is behind this campaign.
The PNCR also said yesterday that the activities of the group are an attempt to distract from “the government’s involvement in criminal enterprises and the united call by the Joint Opposition Parties for an international inquiry of the administration as a result of the evidence revealed in the recent trial of Robert Simels in the United States.”
Vowing not to be diverted from the real issues, the party said that “President Jagdeo and his administration must be made to account for the torture of our citizens and the murder of over three hundred citizens.”
“They cannot escape that reality no matter how much diversion is attempted”, it added.
“No amount of international publicity on the protection of the environment or on the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) will spare any one in his Government from accounting for the misdeeds of Office”, the party added.
The party further stated that “with such a dismal record of performance, it is stretching [the] imagination that Guyanese would want to return the PPP/C to office, irrespective of whom the Presidential candidate is.”
On Wednesday, Alliance For Change Leader Raphael Trotman said that the issue of extending the term limit was not something that the AFC would support. “We don’t believe that the incumbent has the right to seek an extension”, Trotman stated before adding that the President seemed to have greater interest in addressing matters outside of Guyana than in his own country.
Trotman also stated that he hoped that the PNCR shared a similar view and that they would not allow themselves to be coerced into supporting this move.
Previously, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) had said that it hoped that the PPP/Civic would not engage in any “adventurist” steps to subvert term limits. “The WPA hopes and expects that the PPP/Civic would not engage in any adventurist process aimed at subverting the Constitution and its term limits. “The WPA advises, well in advance, schemes to subvert and/or undermine the Constitution would be most unwise”, the party said in a statement.
Although not giving a reason, the party later said that this warning was given since there was a hint of a possible referendum on the question attached to upcoming local government polls.
