Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has agreed to meet with President David Granger tomorrow in what he described as “one more good-faith attempt in the interest of the nation”.
Yesterday, Jagdeo responded to the Head-of-State’s invitation for a meeting tomorrow, by laying out certain conditions.
President Granger responded, agreeing to discuss the proposals which included for the date for General and Regional Elections to be before the expiration of the present voters’ list on April 30, 2019.
According to Jagdeo, tomorrow’s meeting will therefore be “a test of the integrity, credibility and sincerity of the President”.
“He will be tested as to whether he can be trusted “as a man of his word” to put our nation, its future and its people first on a foundation of constitutional and parliamentary democracy. This will be a test as to whether the constitution or ‘power lust’ wins out,” Jagdeo said in a press statement this evening.
According to the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Jagdeo received a reply from Minister of State, Joseph Harmon indicating that “the content of these letters has been conveyed to the President who advises that he is prepared to meet with you on Wednesday March 6th at 11:00 hours at the Ministry of the Presidency and to discuss the issues raised in your aforementioned letters.”
Jagdeo said he has agreed to meet with the Head-of-State having been approached by many Guyanese, civil society bodies and members of the diplomatic corps to make one last attempt to avert the constitutional crisis – which many believe will occur if elections are not held by its constitutionally due deadline of March 21, 2019.
“This is the last attempt by the Parliamentary Opposition to offer the government a way out of the constitutional crisis and to keep Guyana in the democratic fold of nations,” Jagdeo stated, noting that if the meeting fails, the true nature of the Government will be seen by all those who urged the Opposition Leader to meet.
