President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that national elections will be held within the allotted constitutional period and he denied claims by the PNCR that the government is seeking to extend his term.
However, Jagdeo revealed that the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) admitted to him yesterday morning that it has sought legal advice on him being granted a third term. He said he was very upset that the commission had second guessed him, since he had made it clear in the past that he was not interested in a third term in office.
Jagdeo, at a press conference held at his office yesterday afternoon, pointed out that in his New Year’s Day message he had said that this is elections year and as such there will no attempt by him or his government to delay it. “This is elections year. Constitutionally we have to hold elections before the thirty first of December and it will be held in the constitutional period,” he said, while adding that government would meet the $2 billion cost.
Lobbied
Jagdeo said that many persons from his party, the business community and even from “some” opposition parties, lobbied him to go for a third term in office but his answer has always been no. “I go out everyday and people say this to me in the public. My answer has been and is uniformly no. I am not interested in pursuing a third term,” he emphasized.
The president pointed out that it was he who had signed the new constitution into effect that limits a president to two terms in office. “It was my signature that brought in term limits. I have to respect the constitution that I have put in place and so I have absolutely no interest in a third term.”
He blamed politicians and sections of the media—namely the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News—as being responsible for the issue being raised in the public domain from time to time. “They [the politicians and the media] are all basically in the same camps…,” he said.
PNCR leader Robert Corbin on Friday last had said that that his party has seen evidence of plans by the Jagdeo administration to stay in office beyond its constitutional mandate. “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 a party press briefing. He added 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 had alleged, 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.
‘Absolutely untrue’
Jagdeo told reporters that during a conversation he had yesterday morning with GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally he was told that the commission had sought legal advice on him being given a third term. “He told me that he and the commission had asked their legal officers whether it was possible to have a third term, so any opinion that may be sought did not come from me, Jagdeo, it came from the commission in their planning process,” he explained. “Now, I am very upset with the Chairman and the commission for doing this because they should never second guess me. I have made it clear that this is not an issue, so why should they be seeking a legal opinion about whether this is possible. I have made it clear,” he said.
He added that if that was what Corbin heard, he has either been misled or is being misleading. He further said that as it relates to the two other instances of advice being sought, the opposition leader would have to come clean and name the persons he supposedly sought advice from.
“He would have no credibility unless he names who these two other legal luminaries are that I had sought legal advice from, because it couldn’t be, ’cause I never did it. I am not interested. For me the constitution is clear, so I am not interested in that.
“This is absolutely untrue, I never sought any legal opinion from anyone,” he declared.
Jagdeo noted that Alliance For Change (AFC) presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan has accused the PPP/C of working out a deal with the PNCR but he said “there can be no deal”. According to Jagdeo, he has publicly expressed the hope that a medium is found so that all parties can work together “and I still strongly believe in that”.
However, he said it does not mean that elections are going to be delayed, pointing out that it is the opposition that is talking about constitutional change and not the ruling party. The president made it clear that he is not interested in delaying elections. “When I think about it, I wonder why this keeps cropping up over and over again when I have been so explicit and I think it is a… morbid mortal fear on the part on the likes of Ramjattan and others that I may want to contest again because he is afraid of that. They are worried about that. So it is a kind of reassurance for them when they raise it and I say no again, so they sleep a little bit better.”
