Latest update November 23rd, 2024 1:00 AM
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Regardless of third term ruling… Jagdeo vows formal return to Govt if PPP wins in 2020 …will remain party’s General Secretary
PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo
Former President Bharrat Jagdeo has signaled his intention to formally return to Government should the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) secure victory at the General Elections in 2020.
Jagdeo’s announcement was made yesterday in a media statement ahead of Tuesday’s ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the all-important presidential term limits case.
Jagdeo demitted office as President in 2011 due to presidential term limits and was not formally involved with the party’s governance of the country.
“Unlike the 2011-2015 period where I played no formal part in the PPP administration, I intend to be a formal part of the next PPP government as we resume the implementation of plans to build a better country of which all our people can feel proud,” Jagdeo stated.
Term limits agreed upon between the PPP Government and the Opposition in the 2000s halted any president from serving more than two terms.
Jagdeo has repeatedly told reporters that he is not interested in returning as President.
Jagdeo assured that whatever the ruling is, he will remain the General Secretary of the PPP.
He stated that in that capacity, he will continue to spearhead the Party’s struggle for a better life for all Guyanese, especially the working people, the poor and the under-privileged, for racial and national unity and for victory at the polls at the next Local Government, Regional and National Elections.
The case before the CCJ is widely seen in Guyana as a play by former President Bharrat Jagdeo to attempt a run at a third term. The court case, the Attorney General of Guyana vs. Cedric Richardson, questioned the validity of the law which was blessed by the National Assembly and assented to by Jagdeo himself.
Jagdeo returned as Opposition Leader when the PPP under the presidency of Donald Ramotar, lost the 2015 General Elections to the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
The Court of Appeal in Guyana had ruled, by a majority of 2-1 with the present Acting Chancellor dissenting, that the amendment indirectly breached Articles 1 and 9 of the Constitution which Articles entrench the concept that Guyana is a secular, democratic state in which sovereignty belongs to the people of Guyana.
Richardson, though his lawyers, had earlier successfully argued in the Guyanese courts that the amendment breached his right to elect a President of his choice.
The Government of Guyana, under the Coalition, took the Court of Appeal decision to the CCJ.
In March, a team of lawyers representing the Government of Guyana had presented arguments before the CCJ seeking to overturn the decision.
The action was originally filed in 2014 by Richardson, a private citizen.
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