The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) will be formally writing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth about the current political situation and the impending constitutional crisis, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday.
The missives, penned by PPP/C Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, were expected to be dispatched to the respective offices of the organisations yesterday. Up to press time, there was no official word from Freedom House on whether this had been done.
Jagdeo explained to reporters during a press conference at his Church Street, Georgetown office that the PPP had taken a decision to write the three organisations after a meeting with President David Granger on Wednesday. The meeting ended after an hour without an agreement on a date for the holding of general elections. Jagdeo has accepted an invitation to attend another meeting once Granger engages the Guyana Elections Commission on its readiness to hold elections.
“CARICOM will be faced with an illegal government, a member state that is illegal and I hope that they’ll treat it as an urgent matter,” Jagdeo told reporters before adding that he had recently briefed Secretary General Irwin LaRocque about the impending constitutional crisis and the illegality of the government. He did not say whether this was done in writing or in person.
He said LaRocque will be asked to share the letter with the respective CARICOM heads.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo accused government of squandering the opportunity to talk about a mature governance system for the future where all the parties and all the people of Guyana can feel secure and part of the country’s development.
“They’ve squandered every opportunity to do so. So, if the crisis presented an opportunity, they have squandered the opportunity because of their bad faith and because they just want to hang on to power in the short term…” he charged.
He also pledged that when there is a change in government, the PPP will reveal the “rape of the resources” that has been occurring since December 21st, when a no-confidence motion against the government was declared passed.
“Guyanese will be shocked to see what is going on now,” he said before pointing out that contracts are still being awarded and they include a “massive” scrap metal deal for the dismantling of the factory at Wales.
Jagdeo added that while the PPP is exploring legal action to compel the president to name a date for elections, the party is proceeding cautiously.
“We are exploring it but we don’t want it to be a cause for more delays. That is the concern. The government likes to use the court to delay and they argue then that the matter is in the court,” he stressed.
Pressed on the issue, he said that one also has to look at the timeline in the court. “We’re very concerned about the matter being tied up in court and that being used as another excuse,” he said before making reference to the “numerous excuses” already being advanced by the GECOM Chairman and the three government-appointed commissioners in relation to the preparations for new polls.
Responding to public views that he should have accepted Granger’s invitation for a joint meeting with GECOM, Jagdeo said that it is not his constitutional duty to attend such a meeting.
“’You have a constitutional duty to name the elections, not the opposition…,’ I said to him. ‘You have to meet with GECOM, not us.’ And, I said to him further, ‘You are also the leader of the PNC but you are also the president of Guyana,” he recalled.
Jagdeo said that at this point he doesn’t see a role for himself in any joint talks with GECOM. “At this stage to hold GECOM responsible for its acts in accordance with the constitution, only the president has to do that,” he said, before noting that if he meets with them he will get the same “silly” answers.
Asked what will happen after March 21st in the absence of a government and a parliamentary opposition, he said that no parliamentarian or minister should receive a salary. “I believe that none of the ministers and Members of Parliament should receive salaries. That they all cease to receive personal remuneration….They [ministers] will hang on, they will try to collect their perks and keep their salaries going [but] we will advocate for parliament not to pay anybody… also any resources used by the ministers in that period we will treat it as personal expenses to be recovered later… the trips that they make into the hinterland, we will see that as unauthorised use of state money and, therefore, recoverable in the future through different actions…civil action, deductions from pensions, etcetera,” he noted.
He reiterated that the PPP will also be lobbying for international sanctions post-March 21st. “I offered them [the government] an opportunity to move forward. They are not willing to take it. They somehow are willing to think that after March 21st there …is no crisis…,” he added.
He did not explain how the state will function during this period.
“I don’t believe this government will do anything honourably. I don’t think President Granger is going to demit office, but there must be consequences to him staying on. That’s why we are advocating personal sanctions too,” he said.
Jagdeo yesterday also indicated that shared governance is off the table.
He said that he cannot even have a “good faith” conversation with the government on complying with the rule of law and the constitution. “They can’t comply with that. How do you trust them as a partner now?” he asked.
Initially the PPP had an open mind, he said, before adding, “I didn’t go [to the first meeting] with a preconceived notion. I was hoping the discussions would lead us into some form of arrangement that we will see that all of the people of Guyana feel included in a vision for the vision, whatever that arrangement was.”
