Opposition Leader David Granger is not ready to discuss whether he will seek to be A Partnership for National Unity’s presidential candidate for the next elections but he does believe that he has been successful so far in keeping the coalition strong and unified.
Granger, in a recent interview with Stabroek News, said he has not considered a second run since his current focus is on building the partnership and achieving the strategic goals they have set. The coalition business is now on a month-to-month basis and according to him, this business takes precedence over personal ambition.
He also brushed off criticisms about his political credentials, saying the position he holds requires a strong statesman who ensures that the coalition functions effectively and keeps the government on its toes. “So those techniques that I used were successful…I cannot agree with those critics,” Granger said.
Granger, who also serves as leader of the PNCR, dismissed the notion that the party has had a “tainted past.” He praised the party’s record in office, while adding that a PNCR return to office will continue to build on that record.
He asserted that his leadership of the party has led to greater institutional strengthening in all of the regions. He observed that many persons who had left the party have returned even though it is a work still in progress. Further, he said the party registered stronger performance in several regions at the last general elections but especially in Region Ten and in Georgetown.
“So I would say both the campaign which I led and my tenure as leader so far has contributed to the institutional strengthening of the party, increasing party membership and there has been greater outreach…,” Granger said. He added that on the communication front the party now has seven weekly television programmes and regular outreaches to the regions.
Asked about whether he has been able to galvanise enough support to bring about positive change in the governance of the country, Granger admitted that this has been a slow process and he cited the PPP/C’s control of the media and its domination of the economy as challenges. The coalition, he said, is not an enemy of the business community and has therefore managed to draw support from people who want a safer and more transparent country in which investment can take place.
He insisted that the opposition has managed its one-seat majority well, noting that both APNU and the AFC are working hard. He said there is a high degree of respect and cooperation between the two sides and he cited the election of AFC member Raphael Trotman as Speaker as the first manifestation of the management of the relationship between the two groups.
On the question of local government elections and whether the opposition would have failed in this regard since the polls are yet to be a reality, Granger said that the PNCR and later APNU have campaigned for years for local government reforms. “We do not failed we feel we have succeeded in bringing the four bills through the Special Select Com-mittee back to the House and as result of that there was every reasonable expectation on the part of the APNU that 2014, this year…we would once again have local government elections,” Granger said.
He said that the partnership is concerned that President Donald Ramotar withheld his assent from one of the four bills but “right now we are engaged in actions which are intended to ensure that that bill be brought back for the President’s consent.”
According to Granger, the work of APNU increased steadily over the last two years and he pointed to recent efforts as being responsible for bringing local government elections closer to reality than it ever had been in the twenty years since the last local government election was held.
He added that the partnership remains solid and a decision was taken to participate in the upcoming local government elections as one unit both in the Neighbourhood Democra-tic Councils’ (NDC) and municipal elections.
Asked if snap elections is something he supports, Granger said the partnership does not support them and believes in pushing for good governance by the ruling party. “Having elections without making the PPP more accountable is not going to solve the problems of the country. The PPP must be made to govern the country in a more accountable and transparent manner. So we have not been calling for snap elections or any elections except for local government elections,” Granger said.
Security
Granger, a security expert with years of experience in the field from his time in the army, opined that the major threat from crime facing Guyana is a transnational one particularly narcotics trafficking, gun running and money laundering. He also stressed that narcotics trafficking is the “mother of all crimes.”
He said several of the execution-type murders, which have baffled the police, could better be investigated if they looked at the narcotics link.
He maintained that the government has not done enough to effectively fight narco-trafficking pointing out that the country has not had a drug national master plan for three years. He said the opposition is the one that is pressing for it since narco-trafficking is tearing the society apart.
“But there is little outcry on the part of some sections of civil society… they [do not] demand a better planning to counter the drug scourge,” he said.
The absence of the plan, he said, has led to the failure of policies, weakening of CANU and the continued inflow of narcotics into the country.
“Narco-trafficking is a big problem and I think the failure to agree on the establishment of a DEA [Drug Enforcement Agency] office by the United States is one of the expressions of that failure. The failure to promulgate the National Drug Strategy Master Plan, the failure to strengthen the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit, the failure to strengthen the police narcotics, have all created a favourable environment for trafficking in narcotics to strive,” he said.
