Dear Editor,
Please permit me to make a last-ditch effort to appeal to the President to not sign the NRF Bill. I reference an article published by the Guyana Chronicle “President’s Power to Withhold Assent” https://guyanachronicle.com/2013/05/13/presidents-power-to-withhold-assent/ where it describes “The President has a constitutionally endowed jurisdictional freedom to withhold his assent to Bills if he believes them to be misconceived and wrong in principle.” The President at the time was Donald Ramotar. I write today asking that President Ali withhold his assent on the same principle that his predecessor did.
President Ali is in a uniquely advantageous position to listen to the people and organizations who do not support passage of the Bill, but ask for further consultation before the Bill is law. Listen and hear the people, many of whom voted for you. This is not giving into the opposition; this is listening to the people and telling them “I hear you”. Finally, I call on President Ali to show us integrity. This is the one quality that he explicitly specified that he would require of Board members. Show us what integrity means to you, President Ali.
Sincerely,
Surendra Dhanpaul
