Former president Bharrat Jagdeo was evasive yesterday on his interest in a third term but noted that the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has not decided who its presidential candidate for the next elections will be.
“When the time comes then you will hear from me whether I am interested or not,” Jagdeo, the PPP’s General Secretary, told at a press conference at Freedom House yesterday.
He emphasised that the PPP has “made no decision whatsoever… This would be decided at the appropriate time.”
He added, “But I can promise you that it will be done democratically, like we did with our congress and the appointment of our General Secretary and I’m sure the party will decide on who the best candidate will be at that point in time.”
According to him, it will be a candidate “who can lead us to victory, a competent candidate who can deliver on promises, a candidate who is visionary, a candidate who can bring people together.”
He added, “So, in that point in time, when we decide on our presidential candidate, we in the People’s Progressive Party we will look at all of the attributes of the presidential hopefuls… and then a decision will be made.”
The Guyana Court of Appeal last week upheld the decision of former Chief Justice Ian Chang that the presidential term limit was not lawful as constitutional changes were not achieved via referendum.
Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh and Justice of Appeal BS Roy upheld Justice Chang’s decision while acting Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards dissented.
Attorney-General Basil Williams has indicated that the government would appeal the decision at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Justice Chang’s ruling was based on a constitutional motion brought by private citizen Cedrick Richardson, who challenged the restriction created by amendments to Article 90 that were enacted in 2001 after the bipartisan Constitution reform process.
Jagdeo, who is the only living two-term president who can benefit from the ruling, has in the past denied interest in another term.
Jagdeo pointed out that the PPP supported the term limits and that he “had signed the constitutional amendment into law.”
He said he was “so surprised that there is such a big outcry about Jagdeo because I am supposed to be a dictator, I am supposed to mismanage the economy, to be the most corrupt individual in Guyana. Therefore I make a terrible candidate.”
He said too that he was not worried about who would be the PPP’s candidate but about ensuring that people understand the message of the PPP. He noted that the party’s leadership has been trying to reinvigorate the party with young people, women and older people and get them more involved.
Jagdeo said that as General Secretary of the PPP, his role is to prepare the party to win the next elections. “And I’ve outlined already how we hope to do this. We are working to consolidate our support because the PPP lost some support in its traditional support areas, among sugar workers and rice farmers…,” he noted.
He said too that they were working hard to consolidate and broaden their support in the Amerindian areas because the majority of Amerindians voted PPP and the party won in regions One, Eight and Nine.
According to him, they are working on a strategy to resume their work in the APNU support areas, which they “used to do in the past and we fell down on… to broaden our support.”
He promised that the PPP will work among the business community, the middle-class, the intellectuals, and professionals as well as its prime supporters
He said his party has no room for arrogance and has accepted where it was at fault in the past and is working to correct all of its deficiencies.
He said it has to resume growing Guyana and creating jobs from day one.
He accused the APNU of “behaving in a dictatorial manner. Just imagine if the PPP hadn’t been around what the people of this country would have been faced with.”
He noted that the PPP stands up against taxation and excessive harassment of people, bullying and violation of the constitution, “even when we don’t succeed.”
