Dear Editor,
Mr Ramotar’s decision to prorogue Parliament is a decision that I, a member of the PPP/Civic list in the 2011 general election, cannot accept, but only condemn as anti-democratic and bordering on dictatorship.
As a member of the PPP/Civic list, I was never consulted, invited to any PPP/Civic meeting or even canvassed over the telephone for an opinion. I remember at Freedom House on the night of the 2011 general elections, telling Mr Ramotar that he has to be a President of compromise, reconciliation and dialogue in the five years of his term, faced with a parliamentary minority. I further told Mr Ramotar in emails, a personal conversation and at the one meeting I was invited to in the last 3 years, to bring Mr Granger and some of his APNU operatives into a government of united effort for our dear nation. I furthermore always urged local elections which were promised personally to me by President Ramotar and which have never materialized – a grave mistake on the PPP’s part which will come to haunt this regime.
The no-confidence motion by the AFC is the excuse used to close down Parliament; I felt that that motion was not a tool to be used by the opposition at the present time. However, the presumption of this government in not holding local elections in combination with financial irregularities and strange happenings with foreign investments convinces me that the decision to close down Parliament is definitely not in the interest of our nation, especially given the dread effects it will have on the business climate in Guyana.
President Cheddi would never have suspended Parliament as this PPP government has done. Even in the 1960s Jagan offered a solution of coalition government, with compromise and national reconciliation.
Therefore, Editor, I would like the Guyanese public to know that I completely disassociate myself from the PPP’s decision to shut down our Parliament, and more than that, to head down the road to perdition by breaking the backbone of democracy in our country. Parliament, in our heritage as an English-speaking country, is the backbone of any democracy (along with the press) and to close down Parliament, where Jagan was moulded and nurtured as a politician, is a slap in the face of his legacy and his service to this nation. Shame on those who made this decision and shame on those who agreed to it – a disgrace and calamity for our nation.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
