President Dr Irfaan Ali has called on Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon to apologise for the role he played in the attempts to derail democracy in Guyana following the March 2 General and Regional Election.
He made the remark during an interview with this publication at the Office of the President on Thursday.
“This is a legitimate government and my position is; Mr Harmon needs to get it right. He has a moral and ethical responsibility to correct the misleading narrative that he shared on the ground; he has a moral and ethical responsibility to correct the falsehood he shared on the ground. For a matter of fact, he has a moral and ethical responsibility to apologise to Guyana for all the things he [Harmon] did in those five months to derail democracy,” President Ali affirmed.
“The PPP/Civic is the elected government. I am the elected president by the will of the people and no one will try to derail the will of the people again…[no one will] try to derail the democratic outcome of the elections, by pushing a narrative to fulfil their selfish, political desire; to fulfill their greed, and selfish actions – that the world has exposed – and trying to justify that narrative by saying to the Guyanese population that the government is illegitimate,” Ali contended.
Harmon is among several top coalition members who have been pushing the narrative that the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) is an illegitimate administration and that the APNU/AFC Coalition is the winner of the March 2 polls.
But at the same time, Harmon wants to have dialogue with the president on a number of issues of national importance.
President Ali had previously argued that “You can’t speak to someone you don’t recognise, you can’t have a serious discussion with me if you don’t recognise me.”
