Former Foreign Affairs Minister and government consultant Sir Shridath Ramphal has issued an appeal for the rule of law to prevail as Guyana nears “the tipping point of its ‘elections crisis.’”
“…I plead with all my fellow Guyanese not to allow our motherland to descend into the darkness of denial of the rule of law and regularity,” Sir Shridath said in a statement released yesterday as a national recount of votes cast at the March 2 polls neared its conclusion.
“As Guyanese, we owe it to ourselves, to the Caribbean Community which we have helped to bring to life, and to the wider global community whose respect we have earned as an enlightened democratic State – not to debase ourselves by descent into the pit of lawlessness,” he added.
Sir Shridath, who is a former Secretary General of the Common-wealth, also noted that Guyana shall be appearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to appeal for “global justice” under international law against a “menace to our national patrimony.”
He is referring to public hearings, set to begin on June 30, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, on whether the ICJ has the jurisdiction to adjudicate Guyana’s border controversy with Venezuela.
“Almost three-quarters of Guyana – of land and sea – is under threat. We must protect it with clean and united hands,” Sir Shridath said. “Let lawfulness prevail in our country; unless it does, all of Guyana – and all its people – are imperilled!” he further exhorted.
Sir Shridath was one of CARICOM’s “Three Wise Men” who brokered the 1998 Herdmanston Agreement after the political impasse in wake of the December 1997 general elections in Guyana.
He has previously spoken out in favour of the role of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the recount process.
