President Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday that he would not discuss who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize and that this newspaper should continue reporting on the issue in the same manner it has been doing in the past.
Asked by Stabroek News if he knew who nominated him for the prize in an informal setting following his press conference yesterday at the Office of the President, he initially said he had no comment to make on the issue. He then added: “But you can continue writing the same way you have been writing but I am not going to comment.”
He was then asked why he thought he was suitable for such a prize and replied: “You are interesting in writing stories. You want to write about frivolous things…” Pressed again, the President said he was not getting into the issue and changed the subject. The President did not deny that a nomination was made. The Nobel nomination requires the consent of the nominee.
Stabroek News had initially reported that Professor David Dabydeen had nominated the President for his campaign on climate change but Dabydeen denied nominating Jagdeo and said that a North America-based Trinidadian academic had done so.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that the nomination and information package has already been sent to Oslo, Norway.
President Jagdeo has spearheaded a campaign to fight climate change which has as its centrepiece, the monetizing of the value of Guyana’s forests.
He recently secured a pledge from Norway of US$250 million for the preservation of Guyana’s forests. He has also campaigned extensively overseas on behalf of climate change as adumbrated in the Low Carbon Development Strategy which his government has piloted.
