Politician Ralph Ramkarran says that the APNU+AFC government seems prepared to expose Guyana to risk through its intention to stay in office despite the constitutional edict that fresh general elections be held.
Ramkarran, one of the leaders of the recently formed political party A New and United Guyana, noted the failure of talks last week between President David Granger and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on an election date and said that the President’s failure to fix a date for elections is because APNU+AFC intends to remain in office for as long as possible.
Writing in his column in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, Ramkarran said this intention by the government is being aided by the majority on the Guyana Elections Commission who have voted for a new registration exercise.
Ramkarran, a former senior member of the PPP prior to resigning after nearly 50 years, said that if APNU+AFC’s effort to hold on to political power succeeds, it will hold elections between May and August next year, when its term of office would have otherwise lawfully ended.
He charged that the government is now seeking to unconstitutionally regain the time that it lost as a result of the successful December 21 motion of no-confidence so it could to put systems in place to win the elections.
“This clearly is a matter of political life and death and explains the tenacity of its efforts”, he contended.
Ramkarran, a former two-term Speaker of the National Assembly, said that if the electoral list is the problem, the National Assembly can extend the life of the current list beyond April 30th. He also noted that the Guyana Elections Commission already has power to remove the names of persons who have died. The list of deceased persons is expected to be provided by the Registry of Births and Deaths.
Adverting to concerns by the government and its members on the Guyana Elections Commission about the bloated voters list, Ramkarran said that since 1992, systems accepted by all have been in place at polling stations to prevent unauthorised persons from voting.
“There is, therefore, little or no danger that impersonation at polling stations of persons who have left Guyana will take place. None of the fears expressed by political parties about elections since 1992 have a basis in reality or have materialised. Only one party has had a history of election rigging in Guyana and that party is the PNC. And it was able to do so because it held political power and was protected by the West. The fears about a `credible’ list, now being used as an excuse by the President for not calling elections, are politically manufactured for the purpose of delaying the elections”, Ramkarran declared.
Ramkarran, a Senior Counsel, said that the public by now recognises that “what is going on is a charade and that new elections are not going to be held willingly by the Government, which must be aware of the potential harm of taking Guyana down a path which violates the rule of law and the Constitution of Guyana and which may incur sanctions from the international community”.
He said it appears that the Government is prepared to accept these consequences as the delay is vital to its survival.
“This Government, unlike the last PNC Government between 1985 and 1992, takes its inspiration from Forbes Burnham, the Founder Leader of the PNC. PNC Governments led by Forbes Burnham survived elections rigging and authoritarian rule. APNU+AFC no doubt believes that, like the PNC in the past, it cannot only weather any storm that its violation of the Constitution incurs, but that its very existence depends on it doing so. The Government may also be relying on the perceived sympathy with which it is viewed by Western capitals. Oil and the interests of oil producers would be looming large in the calculations of the West in their decisions about Guyana”, Ramkarran stated.
He added that unfortunately for APNU+AFC, democracy has flourished in Guyana for over twenty-five years.
“Integrity has returned to the judiciary and a final court exists in the CCJ. The international situation that sustained the PNC in office has disappeared. Concerns being expressed by countries about democracy in other countries are no longer considered to be matters of the internal affairs of the subject country. That is the reason why sanctions are now imposed routinely against countries that violate constitutional order. The most egregious example today is Venezuela, against which severe international sanctions have been imposed. Therefore, notwithstanding the Government’s apparent determination to resist potential international sanctions, which it may be hoping that sympathy from the West may spare it, Guyana still faces a high degree of uncertainty”, Ramkarran said.
He predicted that once the Government remains in office beyond March 21st, the deadline for elections or a parliamentary extension of the period, domestic turmoil will increase.
“Investments have already slowed and will slow even further. Pending investment decisions will be postponed. Contracts will not be signed with the Government for fear that they will not be recognised by an incoming administration. Court cases against the Government will multiply. CARICOM may be forced to take a stand against an unlawful Government, having failed to do so between in the 1970s and 1980s against the PNC and then eagerly doing so against a then lawful Janet Jagan Government in 1999”, he declared.
