President Granger’s politics is becoming bizarre

Sep 26, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

By the time this edition of KN is released, the date for the 2020 election may be announced. But the essential argument of this analysis here would not be irrelevant. It centres on words the President uttered yesterday morning in relation to accepting GECOM’s letter to him that GECOM can hold elections by the end of February.
Granger is quoted as saying; “The dissolution of Parliament will occur when I am satisfied that the entire process as required by the Elections Commission can move without obstruction on to the date the Chairman herself has nominated …I have to find out from her (Gecom Chairman) if she has any needs and it is for that reason I have not dissolved Parliament and it will remain in session until…naturally we would like to get from her more details … so I will meet the chairman to find out from her what her timelines are, what her schedules are… (that) she has all the resources the Commission needs and that she complies with the requirements of the law including ensuring Claims and Objections”.
These words of Granger are misleading and are dismissive of the constitution. Granger is quoted as saying that he cannot name a date for election until GECOM is ready and GECOM tells him that it is ready. He repeated ad nauseam that GECOM is a constitutional body that he cannot interfere with. He even went on in his defence of not calling a date for election by saying he cannot print ballots, employ polling staff, etc., that is for GECOM to do.
GECOM has told the president that it is in a position to conduct the election. Granger has now moved the goalpost, for which he has no authority. He said at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet did not examine the schedule GECOM has set itself. The Cabinet has no constitutional authority to see the schedule. The President and the Cabinet have no constitutional right to delay complying with GECOM’s timeline for holding elections because it did not see the schedule. The PNC has three commissioners serving its interests. If GECOM said it is prepared, then GECOM’s logistics could be explained to the PNC by its commissioners.
The question in relation to the conspiracy of APNU+AFC wanting to hold on to power into 2020 and beyond is now graphically appropriate to ask. President Granger in simple grammar is saying, I will not dissolve Parliament if I am not satisfied that GECOM can hold the election. Which part of the constitution delegates that power to the president?
When the no-confidence vote (NCV) was passed and it was litigated in the CCJ, the chairman of the court asked why GECOM was not in preparation mode to conduct the election. The nation has now learnt from GECOM that it was not. It now is. But now new factors are at play. The President says he must be satisfied that GECOM is ready.
What the above quote from Granger has done is to put Justice Singh in a problematic position. She said that GECOM will be ready in February. In saying that he wants to be sure that GECOM can deliver in February, Granger wants to ask certain questions of GECOM. Is this a ploy to further delay the election (if there wasn’t an announcement last night)?
If there is a date set, what is to make Granger change his mind, because since the NCV in December 21, he has violated the constitution and kept violating it even though the CCJ said election must be held by September 18? Granger covered himself by shifting the focus onto GECOM.
GECOM has chosen the end of February. Is Granger telling us that GECOM made that announcement without doing its homework, so he has to dialogue with GECOM to see if it exaggerated its ability? Granger is getting deeper in shark-infested waters, because the three PNC commissioners did not object to February. It was the opposition that did so.
These glaring facts compel one to think that Granger and his colleagues in APNU and the AFC are not going to make the February deadline an easy task for GECOM.
As I said above, I don’t know if a date was announced because this column was done yesterday afternoon. But the above quote from Granger is troubling and unnerving. All eyes will now be on the sycophants in civil society, persons at UG, some in the trade union movement etc., that have protected Granger, by insisting that GECOM must decide when election is, and not Granger. Well GECOM has. But Granger wants more assurance from GECOM, a request he has no power to make.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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President Granger’s politics is becoming bizarre

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