Pick one, it’s either Local Government or General elections – says Ramotar in New York
September 23, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News
President Donald Ramotar, over the weekend at a public meeting in Brooklyn, New York has told Guyanese living there that Opposition Leader David Granger could not get “cake and bake” as it relates to the holding of Local Government and General Elections.
President Ramotar made it clear that the Joint Opposition can only get one of the elections and not both. There has been an intensified campaign by A Partnership for National Unity along with all the Western Embassies and several other agencies here in Guyana calling for Local Government Elections which have not been held since 1994.
The Head of State said that while the Opposition Leader is pushing for Local Government Elections and has thrown support behind the Alliance for Change’s “No Confidence Motion” Granger could not get it both ways.
Ramotar also admitted to the gathering that he had indeed promised Guyanese during the run up to elections in 2011, that once he got into office he would have called Local Government elections soon. He said at the time he did not anticipate that his People’s Progressive Party would have ended up with the minority in the National Assembly.
“I campaigned and promised people that once we win the next elections, we will have local government elections very, very quickly. That is true, but I did not anticipate that we would have a one-seat minority in the Parliament. That created political uncertainty in the situation and in the body politics of the country,” Ramotar said.
He also told the gathering that the Opposition parties through their majority in the National Assembly wanted to transfer most of the local government powers from the Local Government Ministry to a Local Government Commission and he could not have allowed such a move.
Last week, Dr. Roger Luncheon, during his weekly press briefing, stated that wasn’t “logical” for the holding of Local Government and General Elections at the same time. However, Granger described that statement by Dr. Luncheon as very bizarre.
Granger had written to the President last week urging him to announce a date for the long overdue LGE by September 15. He threatened that if this was not done he would mobilize local, national and international support “in defence of democracy.”
According to Granger it’s a “bizarre” statement for Luncheon to make. The Opposition Leader had stated that it’s rather strange why a government would hold off from keeping Local Governments after 17 years.
“I don’t know where in the world the President and the Cabinet Secretary would deny the people of a country their constitutional right of Local Government,” Granger stated.
Pressure has been piling up for the Guyana government to hold local government elections. The three main Embassies here in Guyana, namely the United States of America, Canada and the British High Commission have all signaled their growing unhappiness over the current situation.
An earlier joint statement had said that everything seems to be in place for votes to be cast as early as August 1, the strong statement said.
The British High Commission, Embassy of the United States of America and the High Commission of Canada, have made it clear that with new laws in place and the elections machinery ready, August 1 had seemed to be a very possible time.
Source - http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....ramotar-in-new-york/
