President David Granger has agreed to discuss several issues raised by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo at a meeting set for Wednesday, March 06, 2019.
The Opposition Leader, in response to an invitation extended by the President on February 25, 2019, proposed a list of topics for discussions which include the date of the general and regional elections to be held before the expiration of the present voters’ list on April 30.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon Tuesday afternoon noted that “the content of the letters has been conveyed to the President who advises that he is prepared to meet with you on Wednesday, March 6th at 11:00 hours at the Ministry of the Presidency and to discuss the issues raised in your aforementioned letters.”
The response from the President’s Office was shared with the media in a statement from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition late Tuesday night.
The statement further noted that the meeting is “the last attempt by the Parliamentary Opposition to offer the government a way out of the constitutional crisis and to keep Guyana in the democratic fold of nations.”
The Opposition Leader now plans to attend the meeting after initially stating that he would not.
“Many people believe that nothing positive will come out of the meeting tomorrow given the track-record of duplicity of the [President David] Granger administration thus far,” the statement from the Opposition Leader’s office noted.
However, according to the statement, if the meeting fails, the true nature of the Government will be seen by all those who urged the Opposition Leader to meet.
Those who encouraged him to attend the meeting included civil society bodies and members of the diplomatic corps, the statement noted.
“Tomorrow will be a test of the integrity, credibility and sincerity of the President; he will be tested as to whether he can be trusted ‘as a man of his word’ to put our nation, its future and its people first on a foundation of constitutional and parliamentary democracy. This will be a test as to whether the constitution or ‘power lust’ wins out,” the Opposition Leader’s statement noted.
Other issues proposed for discussion includes;
ii) No new contracts to be awarded by the State, including Regional Democratic Councils, and, State-owned corporations after March 21, 2019;
iii) No new agreements, loans, grants, land leases, or any other such agreements or contracts after March 21, 2019, that bind Government;
iv) No abuse of State resources for partisan activities/purposes;
v) Access to the State-owned media by all the contesting political parties.
The President in his February 25 letter had proposed two items for discussion. Those were:
i) “The National Assembly’s constitutional role in the present situation; and
ii) The Guyana Elections Commission’s readiness and requirement for funding to enable it to conduct General and Regional elections”.
