PNCR leader Robert Corbin says that his party has seen evidence of plans by the Bharrat Jagdeo administration to stay in office beyond its constitutional mandate but an official from the Office of the President yesterday staunchly rejected these assertions saying that the allegations were unfounded.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Corbin said, “The PNCR puts President Jagdeo and the PPP/C on notice that their sinister plan to remain in office beyond the constitutional deadline will not succeed.” He said that since September, the PNCR had been “acutely aware of the efforts by President Jagdeo to find a way of remaining in office beyond his constitutional mandate.”
Jagdeo, Corbin said, first sought “three legal opinions on how this objective could be attained.” According to Corbin, “all the legal advice which he [Jagdeo] has obtained and which the PNCR has seen have advised that this is neither legally nor constitutionally possible.” Corbin, however, did not supply any supporting documents.
Jagdeo, in the past, has repeatedly denied having any interest in extending his term in office. A group calling itself the Guyanese Coalition For Jagdeo Third Term (GCFJTT) had been campaigning for a third term for President Jagdeo by distributing flyers and buttons. Billboards were also strategically set up at various points in the city. Suggestions that the PPP may have been behind this had been refuted earlier by its General Secretary Donald Ramotar, who said the body was just up to creating mischief.
Yesterday, Corbin said that the last opinion sought by Jagdeo “advised that unless there is a National Emer-gency there is no way of delaying the General and Regional Elections.”
According to the PNCR leader, more details were later sought by the administration as to how this emergency can be created.
“The warped reasoning of the President and his men was that the elections were delayed in 1990 for two years and the PPP/C period in Office after the 1997 elections was cut short by one year. Consequently, the PPP/C should use all means at its disposal to regain this period under President Jagdeo since all efforts to achieve a third term in office have gained no support either within the PPP hierarchy or the wider society,” Corbin said.
He alleged that one such opinion was sought from the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM), where the matter was raised at a board meeting. According to him, GECOM’s legal officer even wrote an opinion on the matter, which was not accepted by the administration. He suggested that one of the opinions sought was from someone overseas.
It is within this context, Corbin said that Guyanese must analyse the recent developments. According to him, these include the trumped up charges against three Guyanese, “the appointment of the Chairman of the Elections Commission as Chairman of the new Guyana Livestock Development Authority, the attempts to burn down the Enterprise Government school, the recent explosions and the dismantling of stalls around the Stabroek Market, thus placing in jeopardy the livelihoods of over 400 Guyanese.”
When contacted, Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira said she had not seen the PNCR’s statement. “I don’t know what the PNC is talking about…maybe they ran out of things to talk about in the New Year,” Teixeira said after this newspaper told her what the statement contained.
Office of the President Press & Publicity Officer Kwame McCoy said that the PPP/C government has no interest in delaying any elections. He repeated an earlier pledge made last year by the President that elections will be held this year and that GECOM will have all the resources that it needs. He said that GECOM has already said that it is prepared to hold elections this year.
Asked if the government had sought legal advice at anytime about the possible extension of the Jagdeo’s term, Mc Coy answered in the negative. “All of that is rubbish,” he said, while adding that the main opposition party was engaging in “stand up comedy.” He said that there is no need to seek an opinion particularly so far away from elections.
He said that the party was perhaps attempting to cloud its own inefficiency. “Maybe they are the ones who want the elections to be delayed,” Mc Coy suggested.
When reached yesterday, AFC leader Raphael Trotman referred this newspaper to a statement issued by the party in October where the party accused the government of seeking to extend Jagdeo’s term by frustrating the work of GECOM. “The AFC is convinced that the ruling party is frustrating the operations of GECOM so as to force a crisis and consequential delay of the elections because of its internal problems, and to give President Jagdeo an extended or ‘third’ term through the device of an extension,” it said.
