Dear Editor,
I consider the reactions by the PPP and the statements by President Donald Ramotar in response to outgoing United States Ambassador Brent Hardt’s comments at the Blue Caps function, that many of the issues raised by the American diplomat “are really way out and the Ambassador would do very very well, instead of getting involved in local politics, to really represent the interest of his country properly,” duplicitous and hypocritical.
I remember as an eager voter in 1990, then Opposition Leader Dr Cheddi Jagan welcoming the intervention by Senator Kennedy in the fight for free and fair elections in Guyana calling it a “slap in the face” for Mr Hoyte. Dr Jagan and the PPP had no qualms about “meddling” and went further to assert that “Senator Kennedy’s intervention should be followed by other Senators; the Jimmy Carter Centre (for free elections) should also send a mission here to see whether the election laws and regulations allow the will of the people to be reflected in free and fair elections.”
The PPP prior to the 1992 general and regional elections was begging foreign missions here to intervene in our “local politics.” Today the PPP is no longer interested in allowing “the will of the people” to be reflected at the local government level. The PPP would like us to believe that there was a “return to democracy” in 1992; the truth is the PPP closed the door on democracy after the 1992 elections results were announced.
Ambassador Hardt’s constant demands for the President to call local government elections must therefore be seen in the same context as previous calls by the PPP for foreign missions to intervene to ensure Guyanese can democratically elect their leaders.
Yours faithfully,
Julianne Gaul