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OAS Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, and the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the Organisation, Bayney Karran, sign an agreement for an electoral observer mission to be fielded to Guyana
OAS Secretary General, JosÉ Miguel Insulza, and the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the Organisation, Bayney Karran, sign an agreement for an electoral observer mission to be fielded to Guyana

OAS confirmed as elections observer – Country Rep

 

THE Organisation of American States (OAS) elections observer mission will be in Guyana in early May, according to its country representative, Jean Ricot Dormeus.He told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, in an invited comment, that a preliminary assessment mission is expected in Guyana next week to meet with stakeholders and make determinations on the size of the team and the length of stay.

AGREEMENT SIGNED
Additionally, the OAS Secretary General, JosÉ Miguel Insulza, and the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the Organisation, Bayney Karran, signed an agreement yesterday to field the electoral observer mission.
The signing took place in Panama City, in the lead-up to the seventh Summit of the Americas.
A statement from the OAS said that the Secretary General has expressed his hope that “this will be a very good moment for Guyanese democracy,” and his conviction that, “as always, the Government of Guyana will give the Mission all the facilities they need to do their job well.”
Insulza noted that this will be the fifth electoral observation mission that the OAS has deployed in Guyana.
The OAS observed elections in Guyana in 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2011.
CHIEF OF MISSION
The OAS Secretary General has designated former Foreign Minister and Ambassador of Belize to the OAS, Lisa Shoman, as Chief of Mission.
Commenting on the agreement, Ambassador Karran said, “The role that the OAS plays in strengthening democracy in the Hemisphere is because democracy and good governance are fundamental to the development agenda, to human rights, to security and to so many other important areas of work.
“…this election that is about to take place on May 11 is going to be a very pivotal election in Guyana, and will have far reaching consequences for the governance of the country irrespective of the result.”
PROTOCOLS
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Dr. Steve Surujbally, confirmed this and added that the presence of international observers is welcome.
The traditional observer missions, aside from the OAS, include the Commonwealth, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
Dr. Surujbally noted that the United Nations and the Commonwealth have already fielded needs assessment missions to Guyana.
Additionally, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) has approached the Commission for accreditation as a local election observer. The Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) is also expected to revamp its operations and act as another local observer.
The GECOM Chairman maintained that all observers, local and foreign, will be required to sign onto certain protocols before they are accredited as observers.
The Guyana Chronicle was able to get an exclusive look at these protocols, which outline the roles and functions of the observer groups.
Relative to foreign observers, the missions, according to the protocol, will be expected to adhere to more than 35 guidelines. In addition to the guidelines, the rights and privileges of accredited election observer groups were also outlined in the protocol.
Similar rights and guidelines apply to local observer groups, which were detailed in a separate document seen by this newspaper.
Under the Election Law (Amendment) Act No. 15 of 2000, Section 20 states that: “The Commission may approve of local organisations observing the democratic process involved in any election provided such organisations fulfill such conditions as may be stipulated by the Commission.”
Both protocols, for foreign and local observer groups, state clearly that if GECOM considers that an observer group “wilfully, without restraint, overtly and/or with malice aforethought breached the modus operandi and protocols” outlined by the Commission, GECOM has the authority to and may rescind/withdraw its accreditation from the individual errant observer or even from the entire observer mission.
By Vanessa Narine

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Jagdeo’s Babu Jaan remarks racially divisive – Media Monitoring Unit

April 9, 2015 | By | Filed Under News 

After reviewing a broadcast of the speech made by former President Bharrat Jagdeo at Port Mourant

Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo

Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo

last month, the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) says the remarks he made were racially divisive. The MMU, on Tuesday made public its first report on the media’s coverage of the election campaign where it addressed the public outcry over Jagdeo’s delivery at a Memorial Ceremony held for former President and founder-leader of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr. Cheddi Jagan. Noting that Jagdeo’s delivery at the Corentyne, Berbice memorial site on March 8, last, had been broadcast on national television, National Communications Network (NCN), the MMU said that this opened the way for it to address the matter. The report on the March 1 to March 31 period, focused on part of Jagdeo’s speech which it noted stirred significant negative public reactions. The controversial part of the speech it focused on reads “…but they consistently, they shout about racism of the PPP, but they practise racism. They whisper campaigns. In the last elections they went to some of the Afro- Guyanese villages and beat some drums at 6 o’clock in the morning and say let us throw out these coolie people. Get up, go out and vote, throw out the coolie people. That’s the kind of language they use. Anybody from our party who uses that sort of language, we will kick them out. This is our approach.” The MMU said that this was sourced from NCN TV which broadcast Jagdeo’s entire speech the following day. After reviewing the remarks made, the Unit took the position that it was obvious that Jagdeo was using a racial mobilization incident that allegedly occurred during the 2011 elections to make the point that racism will not be tolerated by his political party, the PPP/C. For the record, the MMU said that Jagdeo’s speech was the first time such details were ever publicly disclosed by anyone from the ruling PPP/C, the opposition political parties, local civil society, international elections observers, or the media. The body noted that on the face of it, this is salutary. “However, what was palpably disconcerting about the remarks made is where they were uttered, the occasion on which they were stated, and the immediate receptors of the message.” The MMU is of the view that it would be counter intuitive to view Dr. Jagdeo’s comments in isolation from the environment in which they were uttered. “At close up, he was speaking in a known PPP/C stronghold, before a predominantly East Indian audience, and, to boot, in a highly-charged political and ethnic environment,” it said. “Taking into consideration the historically and politically influenced divisions that persists up to now between Africans and East Indians in this country, and which are usually more pronounced during elections periods, the Unit came to the conclusion that the anecdotal illustration used by Dr. Jagdeo to make his point about racism, boomeranged disastrously, since it came over as a calculated exploitation, for political purposes, of the known fears and insecurities of one section of the population – East Indians.” The Unit added that it is within the foregoing context, that it concluded that the remarks made by Jagdeo “were racially divisive and should have been edited by all sections of the media that broadcast or printed the remarks verbatim. The media was reminded that the airing/publication of the comments as is, was a breach of Section B (1) of the Media Code of Conduct (MCC), which among other things state, that the media should “…refrain from publishing or broadcasting any matter with the potential for, or likelihood of promoting or inciting hatred of any kind (including ethnic and political hatred)…” The unit said that it observed that two television stations aired Jagdeo’s speech in full, while one newspaper and some online news sites carried only the excerpted part. It noted that many media houses from both the state and private media shied away from reproducing the full speech or the contentious part thereof. “The actions of these media houses should not go unmentioned, hence,` we unhesitatingly take a quality time out to commend them for their nous and adherence, in this instance, to the MCC,” the body ended.

Mitwah

Jagdeo slams Moses’ silence on PNC’s vote rigging, violence

Moses being muzzled by Granger

By Michael Younge

Opposition Leader David Granger has been accused of silencing his running mate, Moses Nagamootoo and forcing him to stay away from addressing critical aspects of the People’s National Congress’ track record which is marred by countless instances of vote rigging and post-elections violence.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is also an Executive Member of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), told over 10,000 people gathered for the Party’s first elections rally held at the Kitty Market Square that Nagamootoo has been lured into silence after he was made an offer that saw him bartering his memory, integrity and dignity for the acquisition of power and position.

APNU+AFC Prime Ministerial Candidate Moses Nagamootoo

APNU+AFC Prime Ministerial Candidate Moses Nagamootoo

“Comrades, Nagamootoo goes often on the platform and he says lots of disparaging things. But let me tell you what Granger has done with Nagamootoo. He has put a prime ministerial comforter in his mouth,” Jagdeo said to bouts of laughter and intermittent applause from the crowd. He went further by saying that “And so whilst he is sucking on his potential Prime Minister comforter, he has forgotten the violence of PNC elections. He has forgotten that elections were rigged. He has moved away from every single principle in the past.”

Jagdeo slammed Nagamootoo’s drive for personal and Executive power, telling the crowd that they must never allow him or Granger to become Prime Minister and President in this country because of their dishonesty and inability to accept facts of the past and the roles they played. Taking another jab at Nagamootoo, Jagdeo reminded the crowd of the politician’s promise to deliver 11 per cent of Indian-Guyanese votes to the PNC Reform-led coalition with the Alliance For Change. He also pointed to a recent article carried by this newspaper in which Nagamootoo said that he was not Indian.

“How can you not be Indian and you promise to take 11 per cent of the Indians to the PNC. This is not about being Indian. It’s not about being Afro-Guyanese…It’s about the future of Guyana,” he explained.

Jagdeo told the crowd to “make sure that Nagamootoo does not get away with his rhetoric” by throwing all of their support and that of their family behind the PPP/C on May 11. The former President said that regardless of all of the charges of corruption made by Nagamootoo and Granger against the PPP/C, his Party could compete in any elections on its history in office, its policies and the transformation it has brought to the socio-economic landscape of the country.

National unity
He said that the coalition was fooling Guyanese as it was not interested in creating a Government of National Unity nor taking the country forward through positive change. Jagdeo said that he was proud of his Party’s history because unlike the Opposition parties, the PPP/C has consistently fought for national unity.

“National unity does not come about because you take two rejects from the PPP/C and put them on a platform… (it) can’t come about if cut the $80 billion from the budget….can’t come about if you sabotage the Amaila Falls Project, which will bring cheaper electricity to people…can’t come about if you do not want to support the sugar industry when it goes into a crisis,” Jagdeo warned as he waded into their notion of national unity and change. He said that national unity, in Guyana’s context, can only come about if you respect people of all races and their work.

Investment, business
Jagdeo while underlining the importance of investment and business people accused the coalition of chasing away foreign direct investment and threatening business people who did not want to give them money for their campaign or support their policies.

“They have a gang going around threatening business people and telling them that when we get into office, we are going to deal with you,” he told the crowd. Jagdeo warned against complacency explaining that too much was at stake and all the progress made by the ruling Party could be jeopardised if the right choices are not made. “You know what’s going to happen if they were to win the elections…three years after that we will have the exchange rate going 500 to one. They will eat up all the money that we have in the Central Bank…the interest rates are going to skyrocket again and then you will have a mass exodus…,” he predicted.

Security and violence
He said that the Opposition personalities seeking office were tainted and warned of the danger of having them run the country’s security sector. Speaking more pointedly, Jagdeo said that Courtney Crum-Ewing, whether a patriot or criminal, did not deserve to die before asking citizens to ask themselves who benefited from his death as he suggested that the Opposition has gone back to its traditional ways of mobilising the support base through the instigation of violence and riots. “I was thinking. Why would someone want to kill an ex-solider? And I said, you know what, they want ex-soldiers and Police to become angry with us. They want to go around using this to carry the whisper campaign to the Afro-Guyanese villages they did in 2011…they need something to whisper about and mobilise people,” he warned.

He called on the Police to work hard to solve the crime before urging them to remain militant and telling the crowd “that if they do that, you would be probably shocked to find out who killed this guy”.

“We can’t be docile and go around thinking that these people are nice and they would never do anything…nice old Grandfather Granger….these people are very dangerous,” he warned.

Jagdeo also expressed concerns over Granger’s comments about the Voters List to be used for the May 11 elections being dirty, again telling thousands that the PNC and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) have always used the list to create confusion and violence in the country whenever they lost elections.

  “These are not the days of the past. We will not take violence sitting down”, he said. “Nagamootoo does not speak about that, and they are counting on us having short memory…. So we don’t have to go back 28 years to see the nature of the PNC. The nature of the animal has not changed. It is highly militaristic…and it will use violence to achieve its means,” he said.

He told Guyanese that come May 11 they must vote to avoid such a future.  The former President who served two consecutive terms in office said that he was throwing his full support behind Elisabeth Harper and Donald Ramotar. “I will be part of this race…I will put every bit of energy and strength that I have  to ensure that Ramotar remains President of our country and Elisabeth Harper becomes our PM….I know with the two of them there, this country and its future will be safe”.

“And so whilst he is sucking on his potential prime minister comforter, he has forgotten the violence of PNC elections. He has forgotten that elections were rigged. He has moved away from every single principle in the past.”

FM

Emails, recorded telephone conversation expose…Jagdeo/Nandlall/Sattaur plot to kill staff and shutdown K/News

October 4, 2014 | By | Filed Under Heist of Guyana, News 

September 21, 2014

Jagdeo/Sattaur plot to destroy Kaieteur News unearthed

Publisher of the Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, is in possession of incontrovertible evidence of a plot by former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), Khurshid Sattaur, to bring down Kaieteur News. Confidential documentation, leaked to this publication, reveals that the Commissioner-General provided the former President with detailed tax information of a number of independent media houses in Guyana.tax - a a The disclosure of the information by GRA’s Commissioner-General to Jagdeo, represents a grave breach of the ‘Oath of Secrecy’ sworn to by Sattaur as an officer of the Guyana Revenue Authority, said one lawyer. In taking the Oath, Sattaur solemnly declared that he would “truly, faithfully, impartially and honestly execute the powers vested in him.” He also swore that he would “judge and determine upon all matters and things before him without fear, affection, or malice”. And he swore, too, not to disclose any tax information concerning any taxpayer, but this has not been the case. Both Jagdeo and Sattaur are fully aware of the impropriety of their action and as such Sattaur even acknowledged, in the documents, that Jagdeo is expected to treat the information with confidence, said the lawyer. The documents would lift the lid off a few Government officials who have been insisting that all is right in Guyana and democracy is very much alive, he added. Both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News have been on the receiving end of Government’s anger over critical issues like corruption, value for money on projects, and local government elections. This publication is of the firm view that former President Jagdeo is not entitled to receive financial or tax information of any taxpayer, let alone a private citizen, as it would be highly improper, and clearly a breach of regulations. The information received revealed that Jagdeo advised Sattaur on “an impending major audit of the Kaieteur News” as a public ploy to defend the GRA and Sattaur against criticisms by the Kaieteur News. There is strong indication, according to the documents seen by Kaieteur News, that the plot between Sattaur and Jagdeo was hatched after a news report a few weeks ago raised questions over the employment of three children of the Commissioner-General at GRA. The report had questioned whether it was proper. Sattaur had also been highly defensive and upset with Kaieteur News and the private media, after questions were asked of GRA’s role in granting Bai Shan Lin, a Chinese logging company that is being investigated by Parliament, tens of millions of dollars in duty free concessions. When asked about details of the duty free concessions granted to Bai Shan Lin, Sattaur made it clear that the laws that are in place barred him from ever disclosing the information. He said that the matter was closed. As such, the public was kept in the dark over those duty free concessions for high-end SUVs, like a Lexus, an Infiniti series, and even a number of luxury vans. The granting of duty free concessions for vehicles pertaining to investments has to be relevant to the type of investment being made. GRA remained silent on this and also how it granted the duty free concessions even before Bai Shan Lin was given permission to freely operate its concessions. According to Kaieteur News’s publisher, Glenn Lall, he is now even more convinced that certain members within the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic and Government are determined to silence the voice of the independent media. “The use of the Guyana Revenue Authority, a body to which members of the public entrust their most private information, as a weapon against the media is a dangerous development indeed, and a violation of press freedom… “Kaieteur News is forced to ask what other tax information has not been compromised by Sattaur and Jagdeo?” Lall opined that it is time for Sattaur to step down as Commissioner-General of GRA with an independent, criminal investigation launched to enquire the role played by Jagdeo, and to ensure that the tax agency is operating within its mandate. “We also call on President Donald Ramotar to take steps to prevent Mr. Jagdeo from interfering further in his administration of the country,” Lall said.

Mitwah

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