Ramotar says open to debate

PPP/C presidential candidate Donald Ramotar says he has no problem with debating any of the persons vying to become president “as long as it is politically good to do so”.

“I have no objections to debating any of them, anytime, anyplace, anywhere… as long as it is politically good to do so,” Ramotar said, when questioned during a recent press briefing about his willingness to participate in these debates.

“Since all the political parties have identified their presidential candidates, there has been talk about this. There is nothing official on this,” he noted.  Ramotar said that he suspected that some of the other presidential candidates particularly- APNU’s David Granger and AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan- were clamouring for debates since they were not getting much attention from the populace.

The Guyana Press Association (GPA) in April said that it was mulling the possibility of hosting a presidential debate ahead of the general elections this year.  Earlier that month, a proposed engagement at the University of Guyana with the representatives of the three major political parties—the PPP/C, PNCR and the AFC- was postponed reportedly due to conflicting schedules. However, there has been no word from the GPA or UG on the issue since.