Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo said yesterday that elections preparations and government’s compliance with the Constitution are the key issues he intends to raise during Wednesday’s meeting with President David Granger.
In a statement issued last evening on the agenda for the proposed meeting following the December 21 passage of a no-confidence motion against the government, Jagdeo criticised government’s move to the courts and charged that the protracted period for the meeting is to give the administration time to wriggle out of the obligations imposed on it by the constitutional provisions.
“Compliance with our Constitution in relation to the no-confidence motion and preparation for free and fair elections will therefore be the main issue on the agenda…we will however still keep an open mind on issues of governance despite the bad faith approach and concerted attempts by the Coalition to squander the goodwill for progress and mature, sensible behaviour,” Jagdeo said.
The PPP/C-sponsored no-confidence against the APNU+AFC government passed 33-32 after former government MP Charrandass Persaud defected and voted in favour. Subsequent to this, Jagdeo had through Minister of State Joseph Harmon, requested a meeting with Granger to discuss the way forward.
At the time of the request, Granger was receiving treatment in Cuba for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma but he gave a commitment to meet early in January 2019. The date for the meeting was made public by the PPP last Thursday.
Jagdeo last evening reminded that after the passage of the motion, he made a statement that the development has to be seen as an opportunity to discuss not only how the parties act in the 90 days period and preparation for elections in compliance with the Constitution but also given that all the parties have constituencies, “to start exploring post elections possibilities of working together in the interest of Guyana and all our people.”
“I was pleased that both the Prime Minister and President accepted the outcome of the no-confidence vote and that the President issued a press release which indicated that he will meet with me and that he wanted to speak about enhancing political cooperation,” Jagdeo said.
“Since then, they have acted in bad faith and done everything to undermine this collaborative approach,” he contended.
Jagdeo accused the government of reneging on the public statements accepting the passage of the no-confidence motion and using the “most ludicrous arguments” in doing so. He singled out the argument that 34 votes rather than 33 was needed for the motion to pass as well as the claim that the government “did not tactically speak about this when the motion was passed for fear of activating 5 other PPP moles on the government side.” He also highlighted the claim that the PPP bribed Persaud and said that not a shred of evidence was provided.
Having failed to get Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Barton Scotland to reverse the ruling that the no-confidence motion was carried, government had now resorted to the courts to “override” the Constitution, Jagdeo contended.
Jagdeo accused the administration of using the court as a delay tactic and stressed that any attempt to violate the Constitution will be resisted.
“It seems as though the protracted period for the meeting is to give them time to wriggle out of the obligations imposed on them by articles 106(6) and 106(7) of our Constitution. We will fiercely resist this,” he said.
According to Article 106 (6) “the Cabinet including the President shall resign if the Government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence.” Article 106(7) provides that “notwithstanding its defeat, the Government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months, or such longer period as the National Assembly shall by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the votes of all the elected members of the National Assembly determine, and shall resign after the President takes the oath of office following the election.”
Private citizen Compton Herbert Reid approached the High Court on Friday asking that the no-confidence motion be quashed. Police Commissioner Leslie James last week also confirmed that Persaud is under investigation but declined to provide details.
