Private Sector urges Granger to fix February month-end elections date without delay

Sep 24, 2019 News

The Private Sector Commission (PSC) yesterday urged President David Granger to fix general elections for February monthend as defined by the timeline of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

PSC’s chairman, Captain Gerry Gouveia

According to PSC, a group of the businesses that include banks and other major services company, it would have preferred to wait and give the Chairman of GECOM, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, time since her appointment on 29th July, 2019, to advise the President on the readiness to conduct Regional and General Elections, before making any further comment on this matter.
However, this all changed as on Thursday, 19th September, 2019, Justice Singh informed President Granger by letter that “Given all the objective factors, in addition to the deliberations of the Commission and my most recent consultations with our Secretariat, I have concluded and take this opportunity to officially inform you, that the Guyana Elections Commission will be able to deliver credible elections by the end of February 2020”.
As a result of the developments, the PSC said it is now calling on President Granger to name a date for the holding of elections by the end of February as defined by GECOM, “without any further prevarication or delay”.
However, PSC flayed GECOM’s decision which it said is in contravention of the Constitutional obligation to have been ready to conduct elections no later than three months after the ruling of the CCJ on June 18 2019- “that ruling resulting in the APNU +AFC Coalition remaining in office by relying upon the disciplined services to exercise its authority”.
The Private Sector Commission said it cannot emphasize strongly enough that any further delay on the part of the President to name an election date will significantly exacerbate the already considerable harm that has been done to Guyana’s credibility as a country no longer committed to the rule of law and constitutional probity.
“The Private Sector believes it to be unfortunate that since the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed some nine months ago that the country has been subjected to a series of unwarranted delays from honoring the constitutional requirement to have held elections within three months of the motion being passed in the National Assembly.”
The commission also urged the President to recognize that the condemnation of his government as being in “breach of the Constitution” by the international community, which includes Guyana’s major developmental partners- the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and now the Commonwealth Secretary General- is of serious consequence for Guyana.
“We further urge the President to recognize the significant number of statements from a wide cross section of our society, including the Bar Association, the religious community, the Chamber of Commerce and AmCham, expressing their deep concern of the unconstitutional status of the government.”
The PSC pointed out that the statement from the international community has, in fact, emphasized that Guyana’s economic development and the ability of those countries to support the country’s development needs, is now dangerously compromised.
“The PSC must point out that the consequence of doing business under a government shorn of its Constitutional authority becomes virtually impossible due to the premiums placed on international equity and borrowings and the demands for compliance with procedures of international financial institutions.”

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