CARICOM heads to hold special meeting on Guyana

Jul 17, 2020 News

According to the recently installed Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the regional body is expected to convene a special meeting on Guyana. This development will come after a more than four-month long electoral impasse. The new Chairman, who is also the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, shared knowledge of this special meeting yesterday during a Jamaican radio programme with Ritchie B.
During the interview, PM Gonsalves reiterated the need for a credible declaration to be announced by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) so that a peaceful transition of the newly elected government could follow.

CARICOM Chair, PM Ralph Gonsalves

“The declaration,” Dr. Gonsalves said, “needs to be done very swiftly by GECOM, because you know the pressure is building up and there is likely to be commotion, strife and maybe even civil war.”
It is against this that the CARICOM Chair disclosed that an assembly would be convened with other regional heads of states to deliberate on the way forward.
Dr. Gonsalves said that on Wednesday, he was in discussions with the CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRoque, during which they agreed that, “we would await a decision by the High Court proceedings, following which the meeting would be held.”
Following scathing statements from the international community on Wednesday, where it was revealed that the United States has imposed Visa restrictions on the incumbent President and executives of his party, among others, the St. Vincent PM penned a damning editorial in which he stated that “vile, frivolous and vexatious attempts” were being deployed to hijack Guyana’s democracy.
The proceeding filed by Coalition support Misenja Jones, seeks to have the High Court force GECOM to make a declaration on results what were recently invalided by the Chair of the Elections Commission. Chief Justice Roxane George-Wilshire is expected to make a ruling on that case, today.
When the question was posed to Dr. Gonsalves regarding whether sanctions would follow from CARICOM, the Chair took the opportunity not to speculate. Rather he said, “I won’t be able, without a meeting of the heads, to speak on that; and it would be immature to speak on that. But clearly CARICOM has spoken and has spoken with one voice.”
He continued, “Look, we have to defend democracy and we are on the side of the angels. This thing is taking too long. It is a blot on Guyana. It is a blot on CARICOM and we can’t be indifferent to what is happening.”
Previously, former Barbadian PM, Owen Arthur, said that Guyana cannot withstand the fire of the entire global community, as he hinted at the expulsion of Guyana from CARICOM and the Commonwealth should election results riddled by incredibility be declared.
During an interview with Kaieteur Radio in June, Arthur had said that “What is happening right now is quite frankly holding up Guyana, improperly so too, and is being made an international laughing stock. Guyana faces the possibility of suspension and expulsion from the CARICOM Community as a result of not having elections results that are “free and fair”. Those are consequences, according to Arthur, the country may not be able to withstand.