Pressure mounts on President Granger to fire Lawrence over controversial statements

PPP/C Member of Parliament, Charles Ramson Jr. has added his voice to the number of organisations that have been calling on President David Granger to take action against Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, in relation to statements she allegedly made defending controversial APNU/AFC Candidate, Winston Harding.

The following statement was issued today by PPP/C MP Charles Ramson Jr.  

Allow me the opportunity to commend the number of organisations which have publicly taken the position on the unacceptability of Volda Lawrence continuing to hold the position of Minister of Social Protection following her disturbing statements in relation to the APNU-AFC candidate Harding scandal. Their publicly stated position certainly lends credence to the authenticity of those organisations rather than merely being an anti-PPP outfit parading as an ostensibly bi-partisan one. Over the last ten months, the noted and noticeable silence of what were once the most vocal organisations and who were once the most self-righteous purported political actors when the PPP was in office has unmasked their true identify of being an unavowed anti-PPP antagonists.

With reference to my letter published on the 18^th day of March, 2016, where, inter alia, I identified Lawrence’s incompetence and condemned the shameless perceived use of her ministerial position for partisan political purposes in breach of the oath of office she swore to before God, I stopped short of calling for Lawrence to be fired for two reasons:

First, one would expect that in light of the revelations and public outrage even among the APNU-AFC supporters any person with a single fibre of moral rectitude would, on their own volition, resign immediately. Having said that, that expectation ought to be tempered with an ample dose of reality check when we consider the fact that Lawrence waited a very long time to finally obtain a ministerial position so it would be extremely unlikely that she would resign especially with the recent increase of ministerial salary of nearly $1m per month and perks amounting to several more millions. The love of money and power has a remarkable way of clouding the lens of personal penitence.

Second, the area of ministerial appointment and, of course, disappointment is entirely the president’s domain so the decision to fire or not fire Lawrence is more a reflection of the moral composition of Granger than a reflection of Lawrence’s depravity since the buck always stops with the President. That being so, it is extremely unlikely that Granger will fire Lawrence because he simply does not have the political capital or personal courage to so do. Consequently, and on instruction, the issue will be downplayed by the government and many of their supporters who disagree will simply stay quiet. The most obvious question illuminating the visceral hypocrisy is what would have been the reaction were it a PPP/C minister who made those statements?

In any event, the inevitable consequence of the axe remaining in stasis is a continued destruction of the APNU-AFC legitimacy in government. But more importantly, however, it is the children of Guyana who will pay the ultimate penalty for Granger’s inevitable decision not to fire Lawrence.