…President
Your Eyewitness must confess that whatever regard he had for the now officially “caretaker President” David Granger has been dissipated with his “address to the nation” following the CCJ’s consequential orders. Previously, I’d suggested that Granger might be suffering from “dogmatic subjectivism” – the mental defect in some folks who assume that whatever they believe has to be the “TRUTH”, regardless of contrary FACTS that are presented to them.
They tend to carry on with righteous fervour in defending their positions and are invariably dismissive of other views. Remember when caretaker Granger dismissed Justice George’s judgement that a nominee for the GECOM Chairmanship didn’t have to be a judge and it was her “perception”? And he was entitled to his? But your Eyewitness is now convinced that Granger is callously willing to lie, cheat, or steal to remain as the President of Guyana – and he fully well knowingly crafts his utterances toward that end.
Take his outright lie about the Opposition Leader resubmitting some of the names from his previous 3 lists of nominees for the GECOM Chair: “It is unfortunate that, despite the meetings between the two sides, the Leader of the Opposition rejected the idea of acting in a consensual manner. He chose to put forward candidates for the post who have been rejected previously”. Imagine he’d assert this when he’s on record (the tapes are circulating on the blogsphere!!) in front of the media saying that he’d agreed to have those named resubmitted!!
But it is Granger’s traducing of our Constitution – even as he unctuously bleats “the Constitution of Guyana is sacrosanct and supreme” – that’s beyond the pale and for which all right-thinking Guyanese must denounce him for being anti-national. For Granger to now become a tag team with GECOM to call for “credible elections” is merely to circumvent the workings of the Constitution!! GECOM is supposed to always be ready for elections because the Constitution allows elections after dissolutions and after NCMs!! GECOM can’t hold the Constitution to ransom!!
The CCJ went beyond the call of duty to be circumspect in handing out their orders in recognition of the co-equal status of the other branches of Government – especially the Executive. So rather than ordering a specific date for elections – when the Constitution’s Art 106 is absolutely clear that this date must be THREE MONTHS after the passage of the NCM – they simply said: “The Court must assume that these bodies and personages will exercise their responsibilities with integrity and in keeping with the unambiguous provisions of the Constitution bearing in mind that the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed as long ago as 21 December 2018”.
But obviously “integrity” is an unknown quality for Granger!!
…President must be fought
Old people say we don’t need flambeau to show us what’s clear in bright daylight! And it’s as clear as day that Granger and his PNC are up to no good on their obstreperous delaying of elections. At a minimum, we’ve seen they’re using the extra time to dole out the national patrimony to their cronies and families. At the maximum, they surely need the time to put Plan B in place to rig the elections in their favour.
Now that the CCJ’s spoken authoritatively, the GECOM ploy must be exposed for what it is – a ploy to delay elections. The GECOM Legal Council has declared that H-t-H registration isn’t necessary. Furthermore, a report from a UNDP team declared, “It is the view of the Mission that there is no certainty that a new voters’ list will have more credibility than the current list”.
Your Eyewitness feels that Civil Society – in addition to all the Opposition parties— should imitate what the PCD did in the 1980’s.
This time for elections within 3 months!!
…defeat
Let us remember Churchill’s words at this time: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender!!
Elections by Sept 18!!