The President should have chosen Mr. Latchmansingh

Jan 13, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
A government cannot gerrymander for the purpose of helping the majority party in parliament, a government rule within a framework of a Constitution. Thus what we are seeing today can see Steve Surujbally remaining in office for the next 10 years because clearly the PPP and the PNC cannot behave like mature parties that have the custody of the nation in their hands.
But the bigger portion of the blame must land on President Granger’s desk. Why is he listening to that legal junior called Basil Williams? Why is he not consulting experience people worthy of their SILK like Rex McKay, Miles Fitzpatrick and Robin Stoby on how to proceed with this GECOM matter? Article 161 (2) is easy reading even for a dunce and thus I cannot understand why President Granger cannot comprehend on his own the essence of that part of the Constitution? For the record the part that I am focused on is:
The Chairman of the Elections Commission shall be a person:
“…….. OR ANY OTHER FIT AND PROPER PERSON, to be appointed by the President from a list of six persons, not unacceptable to the President, submitted by the Leader of the Opposition…..” In a normal society with fair and progressive governments in place, the fit and proper test takes into consideration a few factors to arrive at fit and proper. These factors include:
• Has the person been involved in any tax fraud or financial dubious transactions?
• Has been proven to be incompetent to the point that they have not managed an organization and thus cannot be seen to manage the affairs of GECOM?
• Does the person have political leanings from past actions that will import undue bias into their decision-making process while serving as Chairman of GECOM?
If one look at the six names, I am convinced beyond doubt one of them is lean, clean and aptly qualified for the position but was eliminated. Chris Ram ticked two boxes but is a political exposed person who has been extremely close to the WPA and the AFC and thus cannot be seen as unbiased politically and thus his elimination was just. Ramesh Dookhoo like Ram also ticks two boxes but is a political friend of the PPP and will not be able to make political sound and unbiased decisions and again I agree with President Granger to send this PPP supporter packing.
Ryan Shah, a hell of a strong woman who has strong and respected views, but I would also eliminate her for the image of being so pro-Indian to the point that she comes across as anti-Black. A Ryan Shah Chairmanship will send shivers down the spines of the supporters of the PNC and can result in a political war if she is sitting as Chairman of GECOM and the PPP wins the 2020 elections. James Rose should not even have been on that list since he was a PPP candidate and this was a very foolish submission by former President Jagdeo.
Now the two candidates I really felt had a fighting chance were Norman McLean and Lawrence Latchmansingh. Normal McLean ran the GDF in the days when the GDF was the GDF when it had over 10,000 men in uniform and he is close to both the PNC and the PPP and thus neither side could attack him as bias. However, on the question of finance, I have many questions. I think there is still a pending court case against him. For this reason, I believe he should not be considered.
Now let us come to Lawrence Latchmansingh, a UN man all his life. He is married to an Afro-Guyanese woman and has a wonderful mixed family. He is a true representation of the Guyanese nation. He is close to the Catholic Church and was always a peacemaker and never close to any one political party. Actually, through his work, he helped Guyana on major developmental issues over the years such as social cohesion, national unity and elections management. He is squeaky clean financial, ran many UN projects in the electoral arena all over the world all his life and is at peace with senior political leaders in both the PNC and the PPP. So why was Lawrence Latchmansingh not fit and proper Mr. President? This situation clearly exposed the nature of people in the Granger cabal that runs the PNC today.
Surujdai Lilmohan

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