The US government remains committed to supporting the holding of local government elections in Guyana, US ambassador Perry Holloway said yesterday.
Holloway also signalled his intention to raise local government elections with President David Granger at their first official meeting, which is still being worked out. He said prior to presenting his credentials last Friday, he had met briefly with Granger but did not get the opportunity to raise the issue with him.
He did, however, mention the long overdue elections during his accreditation speech.
The US and other western governments have been calling for the holding of local government elections, which have not been held since 1994. Government spokesmen had signalled the possibility of polls by the end of the year, in keeping with an elections campaign commitment that a date for early elections would be set. However, Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally has said the elections body will need at least up to the end of this year to finalise the Official List of Electors.
Holloway told reporters at a press conference yesterday that the US government and others had thought that by December the polls would have been held.
“In an ideal world, that would have be fantastic because local elections are the cornerstone of any democracy in the long run. But, obviously, if it is just not possible to happen in December… then certainly in the near future,” he said, while adding that that setting a date and abiding by it will be a positive development.
Asked how much support the US is willing to give in the light of the mistrust expressed by the opposition PPP/C following the May 11 elections, which saw it unseated after nearly 23 years in office, Holloway reiterated that he has seen no evidence to validate claims that the polls were not free and fair.
Holloway said the US has seen a lot of statements but nothing concrete “that one can verify, that one can prove that indicates that the elections were anything but free and fair and that is the position of the rest of the international community. If someone comes up with something new, our doors are open to everyone… but we have seen nothing to indicate that they weren’t free and fair and that is our belief and we are looking forward to continuing to work not only with the government of Guyana but the people of Guyana.”
He said it is hard to speak of support because the country has not had local government elections for a long time but his government has always supported the national elections. “If the government asks, I am sure we will be able to find some support,” he noted.
Holloway also defended the US’ comments on the recent elections and local government elections, while saying he did not think it has crossed any lines. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is a democracy. We certainly have not seen a physical evidence to indicate that the claims things were fraudulent were true,” he further stressed, before adding that none of what was seen has convinced the US that the outcome of the elections would have been affected.
Meanwhile, Holloway said that he has not been able to directly engage members of the congressional delegation which met with the government and opposition in August.
The PPP/C, during an August 27 meeting at Freedom House, had complained about arbitrary dismissals by the new government and also asserted the need for electoral reforms.
Holloway said he was briefed by officials from the Georgetown Embassy and others in Washington but could not have engaged the members of the delegation directly when they returned to the US as he was not yet confirmed as ambassador and would not have been allowed to speak with them.
“From the readouts I got, they were both very impressed with what is going on in Guyana. They thought that while there were many challenges… they were very impressed with the energy and what they heard from the government. It is a new government but right now they were saying the right things.
We have a lot of shared vision on some of the challenges and some of the ways going forward. It remains to be seen whether we will all be able to deliver on what we are hoping to accomplish. Overall, a very positive visit I was told,” he said.
Asked about his list of priorities, Holloway said the number one item is democracy and governance, which includes local elections, human rights issues, anti-corruption efforts, trafficking in persons and transparency. He said that this has been the main area of focus for at least 20 years.
He noted that it is not always the main area for funding, since a lot of engagements in this regard is with the government and civil society.
The other priority areas include security, the environment and health, with a main focus on HIV/AIDS.
With regard to anti-corruption efforts, he said that the US was working with the previous government and now has a renewed effort to work with the current government, “who has asked for our assistance.”
Holloway noted too that there is an anti-corruption component in the training with the police. “It is a difficult issue to attack… there is no silver bullet or magic potion but the longest trip in the work starts with one step. As much as the government wants us to assist, we will certainly do our best to try to within our resource constraints,” he added.
He said both sides are still working on the specific areas, while noting that there are a lot of efforts involving civil society and individual ministries.
Asked if the US has been approached for help with regard to recovering state monies suspected to have been deposited in banks overseas, Holloway said he has not been personally approached since he arrived in Guyana. “We may or may not have been approached. I don’t know of any particular case. I have been reading a lot on it,” he said, before adding that Guyana has not been blacklisted and this certainly makes cooperation between Guyana and the US or any country much easier.
“Again that is also a complicated thing to do but we are certainly open to the idea so [long] as the rule of law is followed, that there is evidence and information that is supposed to be there, we will not be against doing that,” he said.
There are suspicions that there are millions of dollars belonging to the state hidden in offshore bank acounts.
The task of verification now lies in the hands of the State Assets Recovery Unit, through collaborative efforts with international agencies.
