Former President David Granger has declined an invitation to attend a meeting on Tuesday with President Irfaan Ali and three former PPP/C Presidents.
In a statement from the PNCR today, Granger acknowledged receipt of a letter dated 4th December from Gail Teixeira, Minister of Governance inviting him to a ‘working lunch’ at 12:00 hours on Tuesday 15th December at State House.
“The Minister’s letter, however, neither explained amply the purpose of the intended meeting nor recommended an agenda for his examination. There was no indication of the preparation that would be needed, the relevance of the engagement to government policies and the outcome that would be expected from deliberations. The President’s intention on the other hand, according newspaper reports was to generate ideas on ‘Guyana’s development’”, the statement said.
Granger said that he regards ‘Guyana’s development as a serious matter’, recalling that, on 1st January 2020, he launched ‘Guyana’s decade of development, 2020 – 2029: Overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty’ in which he outlined his concept for the country’s long-term development.
Granger emphasized in the statement that there is public concern about certain governmental actions – including the high rates of deaths as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; unwarranted dismissals of public servants; harassment of Elections Commission officials and human rights violations – which can have consequences for Guyana’s short-, medium- and long-term national development.
Granger added that it would be a huge public disappointment for the proposed high-level meeting to take place, hurriedly and in an “unorganized, unplanned manner and without a predictable prospect of progress or success”. He said he felt that it would be a blunder to ignore the legitimate concerns of a significant section of the population and the aspirations of the majority of the people, especially those enduring the ravages of the pandemic.
He recommended, therefore, that the meeting intended to be held on Tuesday 15th December 2020 be deferred until these important issues could be satisfactorily settled.