President Granger to meet Opposition Leader on January 9th

Jan 05, 2019 News

Government has set aside a date for President David Granger to meet with Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.
According to a letter sent to the Opposition Leader, the meeting between the two political leaders has been set for next Wednesday.

President David Granger.

Based on a letter seen by this publication, Jagdeo was informed of this development by way of a letter dated January 3, 2019 and signed by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
Harmon in the letter enlightened Jagdeo that “His Excellency the President will meet with you on 2019.01.09 at 11:00 hours at the Ministry of the Presidency.”
In the letter, too, Harmon noted that “it would be appreciated if you indicate the matters you wish to place on the agenda for the said meeting.”
The Opposition Leader had indicated his interest in meeting with the Head of State on the heels of the No Confidence motion of Friday December 21, 2018 which went in favour of the opposition 33 – 32. The motion of no confidence in the government was submitted by Jagdeo himself.
The opposition was able to clinch the victory over the government side owing to the fact that Member of Parliament on the government side, Charrandass Persaud, opted to vote in support of the opposing side.
Persaud, has since been expelled from the Alliance for Change [AFC] party] which makes up the A Partnership for National Unity + AFC Coalition government.
With the no confidence motion gaining traction following Government’s defeat, this means that constitutionally, new general elections must be called within three months unless a later date could be agreed upon.
But Opposition Leader [Jagdeo] had expressed concern about the “integrity of the elections” should it be held within the given time frame and had thus stressed the need to meet with President Granger to deliberate on the way forward.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Among the issues of concern raised by the Opposition leader to be addressed with President Granger was the health of the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Mr. James Patterson.
Jagdeo had, moreover, announced his desire to meet the president upon his return from Cuba to seek continued medical attention.
Granger was last year diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a type of cancer, during a visit to Cuba after undergoing a series of medical examinations.
The President returned this week from another bout of chemotherapy in Cuba and has thus availed himself to meet with the Opposition Leader.

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