Dear Editor,
The wheel has turned full circle and it is back where it actually started. I refer to the turmoil to identify a Chairman for Gecom.
It is to be recalled that the President had identified Mr Basil Williams as his interlocutor to engage Mr Anil Nandlall on the matter. Nothing came out of that engagement. Whether that was the whole intent and purpose of the engagement, viz to filibuster and make it much ado about nothing is anybody’s guess. The fact of the matter is that it was a failed enterprise. Nandlall tried but to no avail.
On the other hand, it could be that the President, having finally recognized that he was ill advised by his Attorney General decided to take the matter into his own hands. Granted that all of this might be mere speculation and that the secretive military strategists ensconced at their new premises in the compound of State House, would have already advised Mr Granger about the timelines for holding elections in 2020, then we can safely conclude that the deceptive, calculating machinery of the presidency is hard at work and what is playing out before our very eyes is part and parcel of a grander re-election strategic goal.
In the circumstances, it is expected that high level diplomatic initiatives by the ABC countries, the donor community as well as the Carter Center would have been taken already to alert government about their concerns on this matter.
In the meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition must now await the return of the President from Brussels where he will attend an international meeting from 7-8 June. Mr Granger’s meeting with Mr Jagdeo will take place on June 12 at 6 pm at State House. The meeting seems to be an afterthought by the presidency, since there is no mention of it in his letter of June 2. There is some speculation that the wording, “there will be litigation and other consequences for which the President will be responsible” in the final paragraph in the press release issued by the Office of the Leader of the Opposition might have triggered the invitation to the June 12, meeting.
President Granger will no doubt seek from Mr. Jagdeo clarification on the meaning of those words at the meeting. A list of names with the backing of thirty-three civil society organizations is by no means a list to be dealt with whimsically. Mr Granger, being an old hand at intelligence matters, must be quite aware of the significance of such a list lying on his desk.
In light of the exchanges from the northern and southern sides of the GCC ground both sides seem to be spoiling for a fight. But both sides also recognize that in respect to the settlement of a Chairman for Gecom it cannot be a take it or leave it situation. Believing he holds the trump card, when in fact it is a petard in his hand, Mr Granger must have realized how precariously poised the situation is. The President faces the real possibility of 33 civil society bodies rising up to challenge him along with the ABC countries and the donor community. In the case of the former, it would deal a devastating blow to all the talk of social cohesion. Thus the choice by compulsion to proceed on a pathway of reasoning and compromise.
From all indications, Mr Granger, having publicly rejected all the names suggested thus far cannot go back to any of those names; he therefore has names of his own choice and wants to cut a deal with Mr Jagdeo on the chairmanship of Gecom. If the name/s Mr Granger has was never considered by the thirty-three organizations, including the PPP/C the Opposition Leader might do one of the following things:
1) go back to consult with the stakeholders;
2) declare the President’s move unconstitutional;
3) drag out the process further;
4) seek a resolution through the court;
5) seek the intervention of the Carter Center and the diplomatic community to resolve the matter;
6) make good the threat that “there will be other consequences” if the matter is not settled in accordance with provisions of the Constitution.
In any of the aforementioned scenarios, Presi-dent Granger will certainly find himself in a pickle.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J Rohee
