Opposition leader David Granger yesterday announced that he would no longer be engaging President Donald Ramotar on the holding of local government elections, saying it would be “pointless.”
“I don’t intend to continue meeting him,” Granger yesterday told a press conference. “It would be pointless meeting the president about local government elections,” he added.
His declaration came two days after Ramotar announced at the National Toshaos Council Conference that he would be foolish to call a date anytime soon due to a looming no-confidence motion against his government.
“I would be rightly ridiculed by any right thinking person if, faced with such a situation, our Minister goes to announce a date…it would be rather foolish to do something like that,” Ramotar had said, while noting that the government was not afraid to set a date for local government elections.
The President’s sentiments came on the heels of discussions with Granger, whose opposition coalition APNU has been campaigning for the holding of the elections. The elections were last held in 1994.
A team from APNU met last week with Ramotar and his team and discussed the coalition’s demand for a date for local government elections and for a clutch of rejected bills to be signed into law.
Observers say that the government and APNU appear to be testing the waters for a political agreement that could seize the initiative from the AFC, which has dictated the agenda in recent weeks with its push for the no-confidence vote which would force general elections in three months if passed.
However, Granger yesterday said that Ramotar’s Wednesday announcement made it clear that he was not interested in seeing local government elections being executed anytime soon here. Nevertheless, he said he will continue in his pursuit to have the government meet its constitutional obligation and call a date.
While Granger explained that he was optimistic during the talks that an agreement would be made to set a date called before the first quarter of next year, he did not admit to being “duped.”
“I wouldn’t say I was duped. I was fulfilling my constitutional obligations as leader of the opposition. The meeting was held at his request. There was no outcome and he made an announcement at the National Toshaos Conference and I would regard that as the last word on the subject,” he stated.
