The joint opposition is expected to complete the process of compiling signatures they obtained for a petition calling on Caricom Heads of Government to make recommendations to President Bharrat Jagdeo and his administration to meaningfully address a number of governance issues.
PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke and AFC executive member David Patterson told Stabroek News that copies of the petition along with sheets to be signed were given to activists of the political parties, the PNCR-1G, AFC and GAP-ROAR, since the signature campaign was launched on May 22, 2008 to distribute and obtain signatures throughout the ten administrative regions.
Clarke said that the objective is to ensure that the sheets with signatures collected would be submitted ahead of the Caricom Heads of Government annual conference which would be held in Antigua and Barbuda during the first week in July.
Neither Clarke nor Patterson could tell this newspaper how many signatures had been obtained but Clarke said they would be in the thousands while Patterson said that the response from AFC members was favourable.
The issues highlighted in the petition call for the removal of the suspension of the license of CNS TV Channel 6, owned by Justice For All Party Leader Chandra Narine Sharma; the withdrawal of sedition charges against ex-GDF Lieutenant Oliver Hinckson and his immediate release from custody; the urgent enactment of Broadcast Legislation based on the recommendations contained in the Final Report of the Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly, Non-Partisan Boards and Broadcasting Legislation submitted on December 7, 2001, and adopted by President Bharrat Jagdeo and the late Leader of the Opposition, Desmond Hoyte; the licensing of private radio stations; equitable access by parliamentary parties to the state-owned media; the re-constitution of the Integrity Commission in accordance with the Integrity Commission Act No. 20 of 1997; an immediate end to the denial of the fundamental rights of the citizens of Guyana; and the immediate enactment of the Freedom of Information Legislation.
The petition is also calling on the Heads to generally use “Caricom’s collective influence in relation to Guyana’s affairs to facilitate the creation of an environment of peace and social stability, particularly as it relates to the advancement of the issue of Inclusive Governance/Shared Governance in Guyana, as a necessary prerequisite for progress, development and the security of Guyana and its citizens.” Meanwhile, one of the issues raised about the petition was that too many issues were being raised at one time and they should have been dealt with case by case, but Leader of the Opposition Robert Corbin had said that all the issues were taken collectively to illustrate the gravity of the situation that the country is currently in. Corbin recently had a one-on-one meeting with President Jagdeo.
In response to the same issue Patterson said that, “We want Caricom to take note. It is like a report card.” He said that the issues were a compilation of some raised with this government after the 2006 general and regional elections and some were before. “We do not want to go to Caricom every week with different issues.”
The AFC had placed the petition on line at http://allianceforchange.blogspot.com/2008/05/petition-from-citizens-of-guyana-to.html where a number of signatures were gathered. According to Patterson, persons still have until weekend to sign the online petition. The petition was placed online in response to calls from the Guyanese diaspora in an effort to be involved.
