Leader of the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), Lenox Shuman, is calling on Government and the Opposition to exercise political maturity in agreeing on an election date.
Shuman made the call yesterday during the party’s first press conference which was held to make public its position on the ongoing political situation.
“We want to express clearly our dissatisfaction in the government not being able to come to an agreement with the Opposition in terms of setting a date for elections,” the presidential candidate said.
He noted that since the passage of the No-confidence motion in the National Assembly on December 21, 2018, Guyana continues to be plagued with uncertainty.
“On the 21st, one politician stood up and showed that one vote can make a difference and I think it is important for all politicians to realize that. However, one of the very terrible things that happened was that it deepened the racial suspicion in Guyana… It also shows the need for us to address the reform of the constitution of Guyana comprehensively,” Shuman said.
“Now if we look at what the constitution says in relation to a no-confidence motion, there is no provision anywhere that stipulates that GECOM has to go and sanitize or unsantitize the list; what it does say in the constitution is that elections will be called within 90 days and based on the legal guidance that we have, that condition is there regardless of what GECOM’s status is, regardless of what the list says, whether it is sanitised or not sanitised , the constitution demands that elections be held within 90 days,” he added.
Shuman further contended that GECOM, an organ that he says should be operating independently and with integrity, has strayed from its mandate.
“They are not operating as a constitutional body, they seem to be taking partisan lines and I say that without reservation. By virtue of the fact that GECOM has not worked by their mandate, it leaves the country in a position where we could see a lot of difficulties, not only nationally but internationally as well. GECOM has a responsibility to the people of Guyana and that responsibility is to act objectively, honestly and with integrity in the nation’s interest and we concede that that is not possible,” the LJP leader posited.
As such, he said that a core principle of the LJP is to “depoliticize” the election body, in order to make it objective and more centred in the interest of the people.
In the meantime, however, Shuman mulled what he considers to be a looming constitutional crisis in Guyana.
“What is going to happen on that fateful day, is that for the first time in Guyana’s history, we are going to have, if not taken properly, a de facto government governing Guyana and I think the nation has to take this very, very seriously. When we start having de facto governments, what is going to happen is that we are sliding into dictatorship and I think that these things need to be dealt with very, very clearly in the interest of the nation,” he said.
“It should not be a political process, I think the parties are looking at what is best for them, but they should sometimes realize that what is best for Guyana is not necessarily best for their political interest. But we are hopeful that the opposition and the
government exercise political maturity and have meaningful discussions on how we can move our country out of what we are in today,” Shuman added.
Outside of the constitutional crisis, according to Shuman, also exists a political crisis, where parties are operating along slim political lines and are taking the nation down a very dangerous path.
“The effects of what has happened on December 21 has had a very negative effect on the country’s image; investment has slowed and if you look at what the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce has said, business in Guyana has decreased, revenues have decreased,” the Presidential candidate said. “We have not seen an interest from the international market to come and invest in Guyana; investors are standing at the gate waiting for us to get by this political hiccup and once again the Liberty and Justice Party would like to call on the leader of the opposition and the government to sit down and have very honest discussions on how we are going to handle this situation instead of playing political chess with this country. The global perception of Guyana is that we are a banana republic, where we have to go and talk to a minister to get our problems resolved; it shows that there has been no meaningful development of government in Guyana over the past 53 years,” Shuman contended.
