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Jagdeo has enough time to rethink meeting with President- Harmon
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has refused an invitation extended by President David Granger for a meeting. But, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon says that Jagdeo’s decision is not being considered final by government.
Harmon said this as he noted that Jagdeo is still to formally respond to the President’s invite.
“A letter of invitation was sent to the Leader of the Opposition for a meeting with the President on March 6 at 11:00hrs. We made that public after the letter was sent to the Leader of the Opposition.
“One would expect that under normal decency and by virtue of democratic behaviour, the Leader of the Opposition would respond to the President indicating whether he would attend that meeting or not, but not to hear in the Media that he has said that he is not attending,” said Harmon.
Minister Harmon believes that there is enough time before the March 6 meeting for the Opposition Leader to reconsider his decision to accept the President’s invitation.
“We have always said that the President is prepared to engage with the Leader of the Opposition on any matter of national interest. We consider this to be one such matter and therefore that is why the President invited him.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon
“So it is our hope that after mature consideration, the Leader of the Opposition will change that stance which he has taken today and attend the meeting,” Minister Harmon added.
Jagdeo had long said that any further meetings with President David Granger will be predicated on the issues listed on the agenda to be discussed. Jagdeo said that unless the President wants to discuss a possible date for elections, meetings are essentially a no, no as far as he is concerned.
Jagdeo said that none of the topics proposed by the President are appealing to him.
Jagdeo asked, “Why do I need to meet with President Granger next week? He wanted to consult with me on the National Assembly’s constitutional role in the present situation, and that is clearly defined in the Constitution. He does not need to consult with me on that.”
Jagdeo suggested that instead of the President consulting with him on such an issue, he should just simply “read the Constitution and comply with it.”
The Opposition Leader said that the second issue President Granger wanted to consult on has to do with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM)’s readiness for the hosting of General and Regional elections and requirements for funding to enable GECOM to conduct such elections.
Jagdeo said that he also need not be consulted on those two issues.
Addressing the request to meet on GECOM’s readiness, Jagdeo said that it is a waste of time meeting with the president on that, simply because he believes that the government gave “directions to GECOM not to be ready. They have not even started preparations and the constitutional period is essentially expired.”
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