OPINION: Eyewitness

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Not unacceptable

…to the Supreme Leader

With Khemraj Ramjattan having evidently suppressed his rural roots, he mightn’t appreciate the folk wisdom that, “chickens will come back to roost”. But as a fella who’s favourite expression is “haul yuh ass!”, surely he understands that things can “come back and bite you in the ass”!! When PNC leader David Granger was strategically finagling in late 2017 to unilaterally appoint his hand-picked choice of James Patterson as GECOM Chair, it was revealed that Ramjattan had offered him some gratuitous advice on constitutional interpretation.

Even though he’d denied doing so at the time, Ramjattan was forced to recant after he was shown his e-mails to the AFC’s Canadian branch where – after being asked – he’d advised Granger to reject, in toto, the second list of names the Opposition Leader had submitted. But he didn’t stop there: he went further and told Granger that constitutionally, since Jagdeo hadn’t submitted names “not unacceptable to the president”, he could then proceed to unilaterally appoint any person of his choice!! Which is what Granger, of course, promptly did – eventually to have it overturned by the CCJ. But not after the damage of the H2H exercise had been done!

And this is where his advice – motivated solely by his rage to get back at his bête noire Jagdeo – has come back to bite him in his bamsie. While the details of the “Revised Cummingsburg Accord” still haven’t been made public, snippets keep slipping out. And you can now understand why both APNU and AFC are so coy about it: the “accord” is so one-sided and humiliating to the AFC, even the PNC wants to keep it away from the public. Most folks don’t take too kindly to bullies who grind their hapless victims into the dust – even when the victim goes along! There’s either “Dead Meat” Syndrome at work – or plain greed!

In the latest revelation, we now discover that even though the number of Ministries allocated to the AFC have already been cut down to four by Granger, rebuffing the specific Ministries the AFC had asked for, the latter will ultimately make his own choice. Why? Well, since the two parties have already agreed to abide by the Constitution, the AFC’s recommendation for heads of Ministries must be “not unacceptable to the president”!! In other words, the President’s choice must be unfettered and he can make “unilateral appointments” – as advised by Ramjattan!!

The chickens have come home to roost, and they’ve bitten Ramjattan on his derrière. And if he doesn’t like it, he can either like it or lump it and “haul” his aforementioned posterior!!

Yes, Dear Reader: in case you had any doubts, there is a God!!

…for a valid voters’ list

While, Dear Reader, you might be rolling your eyes at this “confounded” voters’ list – after been forced to digest the alphabet soup of NRR, PLE, C&O; OLE, etc, — GECOM still can’t get it right. The latest conundrum – as predicted by your Eyewitness – is what to do with those 6000+ names GECOM claimed to’ve registered with PNC agents – but couldn’t be found when the PPP went out with GECOM last week!!

Now since some of the addresses where the so-called “registrations” had taken place were empty lots – with cows placidly chewing their cuds in some instances – you’d think the sensible thing to do was simply dump them. But no!! Once you’ve accepted the H2H as legal – in for a penny, in for a pound!! So here it is, we have the equivalent of one parliamentary seat underwritten by most likely fictitious names – who’ll miraculously appear on March 2 to vote for the PNC.

The only option is for the PPP to vet and object to the names in the next 20 days!

…bribery

The IDB confirmed that Guyana’s Government workers top the Caribbean in stretching out their hands for bribes – to perform tasks for which they’re already paid.

Maybe, like the Ministers, their salaries should be hiked 50 per cent??

 

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