Election date is a sham and a huge farce – AFC

- APNU questions wisdom of decision

Opposition Leader, David Granger

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) are of the opinion that the scheduled election date, Monday, May 11, brings a fair degree of confusion and problems with it, but the AFC insists that despite the unwise decision that the President has made, the party would not be begging him to reverse. Leader of the Opposition, David Granger told Kaieteur News yesterday that while APNU is happy about the announced date, President Donald Ramotar should consider moving it to one that is during a less disruptive period. Granger said that APNU welcomes the pronouncement because the entire country was essentially in a state of suspense. He said that business had started to slow down as well as investment and the general population was “bewildered.” The Opposition Leader said that the announcement was a step forward, but in terms of the date chosen, it brings with it a lot of trouble. “I don’t know what thinking went into that date, considering that it clashes with major examinations.  We feel that the President has not yet made a Proclamation, so it’s not official. Therefore, Ramotar should use the opportunity to consider moving the date and putting it to one that is less troublesome to students and teachers,” Granger added. Meanwhile, his opposition counterpart, AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, has expressed even more scathing views. Ramjattan during his party’s press conference which was held yesterday was asked if he would consider calling on the President to move the date. “The AFC wants elections early. If that’s what he (Ramotar) has got (to offer) and it clashes with the exams, then too bad! It is his decision, foolish as it may be. He will have to correct that, but we don’t have to go and beg him to correct that,” the AFC Parliamentarian firmly stated.

AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan

He said, too, that the election date was obviously not well conceived or considered. Notwithstanding all that has been said by others on how ill-advised the President might have been, Ramjattan has a hunch that the announcement of that date was a deliberate move. He believes that the Head of State knew that there would be a clash of the date with major exams, and that there is an ulterior motive behind the clearly unwise choice of date. “We are surprised at this. We honestly feel that it might not be held on that date and the government is going to come and say ‘having reconsidered all this difficulty and challenges, we have to move it back’,” he added. The AFC Leader also told the media that he believes the announcement of the election date was all part of pleasing some CARICOM leaders who were unhappy with Guyana’s operating with a prorogued Parliament. Ramjattan asserted that he knows for a fact that certain CARICOM leaders were asking Ramotar why he prorogued the Parliament and the Head of State gave the impression that an election date would be called soon. But even with all this, the AFC Leader opined that the announcement of the May 11 election date is “all a sham and a huge farce.” Compounding the issues of the date being around the same period when major Caribbean examinations will be held locally is the fact that the President has not made a Proclamation of Dissolution of the Parliament. The AFC Leader said that the President’s move in this regard raises a lot of confusion and uncertainty. “We understand too that a lot of the ministers and Members of Parliament on the government’s side are in the Accounts section of the Parliament asking them to fix up their benefits, because a number of them feel that they won’t be there for the next term, and that is why they have not proclaimed the dissolution. “Once it is dissolved, Parliament’s life is terminated, as against a prorogation, in which the life is in a state of suspension. So I think they are playing for some time. I would hope that Guyanese understand the circumstances in which the President made this kind of announcement,” Ramjattan asserted. The AFC Leader also disagreed with the opinion held by some that the President by his actions has acted contrary to the Constitution. “For the time being, the President still has some room to play with; this is of course, assuming that he abides by the May 11 date,” Ramjattan said. The Constitution states that when the Parliament is dissolved, the President has up to three months to hold general elections. But considering that the Parliament is yet to be dissolved, Ramjattan said that Ramotar has up to February 10 to do so in order to justify the May 11 date set by him.

AFC Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo

He said that when the Proclamation of Dissolution is made, only then can the nation say for certain that Elections will be on the date given. AFC’s Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo, added that with all this “hanky panky”, one cannot be too sure if government might change its mind. He said that it cannot be ruled out that government could also surprise the nation by bringing a 2015 budget which promises “the moon and the stars”. Nagamootoo concluded that all that is playing out is a product of the President’s irresponsibility, and he has essentially placed the nation in an unsafe place.