Even as he expressed confidence about returning to office for a second term, President David Granger yesterday said the APNU+AFC coalition will ensure a peaceful environment for the upcoming general elections and accept the results.
“The business community need not fear political violence and social unrest. My government will do everything possible to ensure political stability,” Granger, who now heads a caretaker administration, yesterday told a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) business luncheon, where he was the guest speaker.
“The business community has nothing to fear from the forthcoming elections. I am committed to ensuring a safe and secure environment for business, for communities and for citizens, in the process leading to, during and after general elections. My government will respect the democratic will of the people and anything contrary will be abhorrent to the values to which my coalition government subscribes,” he added.
Having received correspondence from the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh shortly before attending the luncheon, the President said that he was committed to having elections and was only awaiting word from the one body that was constitutionally responsible for them.
“This decision is not whimsical. I must be advised that the Elections Commission is in a state of readiness to conduct elections. It would be reckless of me to name a date for the holding of elections without ascertaining the Commission’s readiness to do so,” he said.
“I have indicated to the Elections Commission that I would like to see elections at the earliest time possible. I shall proclaim a date for general and regional elections once I am advised by the Elections Commission that it is in a state of readiness,” he added.
‘Fools rush in’
Granger was asked by communications consultant Kit Nascimento why since the passage of the No-Confidence Motion against government on December 21st, 2018 he did not take the position to act so that elections could be held in the three month timeframe stipulated by law. He repeated much of what he said during his address but added that while it appeared that Nascimento believed that he should personally take over the role of GECOM, he could not. “I don’t know what answer I can give. Should I remove the constitutional right [of GECOM] to do its remit? Should I, as head of the executive, start printing ballot papers? Should I appoint a returning officer? Establish a polling station? These are constitutional duties which have been given to the commission and the judiciary did not intervene. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. And the CCJ [Caribbean Court of Justice] was very clear it could not issue any coercive orders. There is no institution in Guyana which can assume the functions of the elections commission,” he said.
‘Bearing fruit’
And the President underscored that his government understands the importance of manufacturing to this country’s development coupled with overall private sector input and it is why “tax policies have been tailored to incentivise the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector.”
Making reference to this year’s Mid-Year Report, the President said that it paints a positive picture of manufacturing and services sectors.
“The manufacturing sector expanded by 3.6 per cent in the first half of 2019. It is anticipated to record an annual growth rate, this year, of 3.7 per cent. The services sector is estimated to have grown by 4.6 per cent between January and June 2019, the highest rate of growth since 2011.Trade – wholesale and retail – grew by 5.9 per cent; transportation and storage by 5.5 per cent; financial and insurance transactions by 4.1 per cent; rental of dwellings by 5.9 per cent; and other services by 10 per cent,” he said.
“Indicators suggest expansion of business activity. Private sector credit increased by 5.7 per cent for the first half of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018. Credit to the mining and quarrying sector increased by 6 per cent; credit to the manufacturing sector increased by 0.5 per cent and credit to the services sector increased by 7.2 per cent,” he added.
The Inter-Ministerial Round Table, established in 2017 and which comprises government and GMSA representative, was lauded for the strides made to propose measures for the sector’s benefits.
“Its work has been fruitful. Cooperation is taking place between the Government and the GMSA to facilitate agro-processing development and to ease doing business in Guyana. The Roundtable’s work has resulted in achievements. It has resulted in: increasing the Common External Tariff on imported pinewood, which posed a threat to local timber producers; initiating an inventory of the forests to aid the forest sector better and to enable it to allocate forest resources to producers; improving trade facilitation at the ports; moving towards the development of a consolidated stockyard for lumber to better improve timber sales; and addressing constraints to fair access to external markets by our agro-processors,” the President said.
“My friends, the cooperation between the government and the GMSA is bearing fruit. The economy is being rebalanced to become more competitive and resilient. It is being prepared and primed for rapid economic growth,” he added.
Granger also underscored the importance of the coalition’s proposed Decade of Development, which it plans to initiate next year.
Granger said the ‘Decade’ would see 10 major areas of development. He explained that there will be education reform, to ensure that the education system is more reflective of the needs of the new economy; Economic expansion, diversification, restructuring, including emphasis on value-added manufacturing and food security; Energy security and the transition to renewable and clean sources of energy; Environmentally sustainable management of the natural resources; Empowerment of regional and local communities; Eradication of extreme poverty, destitution and homelessness; Infrastructural expansion, in particular to serve the hinterland communities of regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine; Internationally competitive trade and investment; national and border security, especially in the light of the heavy migration of Venezuelans into Guyana, of whom there are now over 10,000; and institutional strengthening, especially against the background of constitutional reform to ensure good governance. On the latter point, he highlighted “the inability, after more than a decade, to appoint a substantive Chancellor of the Judiciary and a substantive Chief Justice, not to mention the difficulties that we’ve had in the first half of the year in the National Assembly. These are topics which will be dealt with in our constitutional reform during the Decade of Development.”
Constitutional reform had been one of the campaign promises of the APNU+AFC coalition in 2015 but there has yet to be any meaningful achievement since its election to office.
