According to PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo there must be a political motive behind a decision by President David Granger to prevent the Carter Center and the International Republican Institute (IRI) from returning to Guyana to observe the recount of votes from the March 2nd general elections.
Speaking during a virtual briefing yesterday, Jagdeo argued that since government through the COVID-19 Taskforce has agreed to open the borders and allow Guyanese to return home there is no excuse to continue to prevent the international observers from also returning.
“So now that just yesterday, they agreed to 100 persons coming in, flying in to Guyana, he [the President] would have a very difficult time now justifying why they can’t allow four international observers who are prepared to take the test [COVID-19] and follow the same protocols like CARICOM did and the same protocol that those who are coming home will follow, so he is going to be in a serious bind now to explain this,” he claimed.
Jagdeo maintained that the “duplicity of the government’s position will wend its way to Washington” noting that his party will bring it to the attention of the international community.
He stressed that since Granger has now “owned the issue” by speaking publicly on the matter he is making people doubt that he actually wants full transparency at the National Recount currently underway.
According to the politician even with the presence of the three member team from CARICOM he will continue to advocate for the return of the Carter Center observers.
Meanwhile, he has also expressed a willingness to join with Granger in requesting that CARICOM remains in Guyana for the duration of the recount, no matter how long that might be.
“We also are happy that the CARICOM team are here…the team is a major safeguard,” he stressed noting that he had reached out to Secretary General Irwin LaRocque and thanked him for the Community’s patience.
Last Sunday, Granger told reporters at the National Aquatic Centre that the decision to reject the Carter Centre was solely made from a health perspective as “COVID is real.”
“It is my duty as president to protect the people of this country. I don’t understand that any country in the world can use COVID as an excuse. COVID is the worst public health crisis for 100 years. That is not an excuse,” he said after touring the recount centre at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
The Carter Center last week said that it again wrote to government explaining that it will meet this country’s COVID-19 safeguard criteria if allowed back in.
However, government denied its second request citing CARICOM’s ongoing role in the process and the closure of the airports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The US, Canada and the United Nations among others have been urging the return of the Carter Center amid concerns that attempts are being made to rig the results of the March 2nd general elections.
On the same day government rejected the Carter Center’s request, a private charter with about 70 ExxonMobil employees was allowed entry into the country.
Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Director General, Egbert Field last week said that approximately six to eight requests for flights to transport oil and gas workers into Guyana by ExxonMobil have been granted approval by the National COVID-19 Task Force. Each flight averages the same amount of employees.
