PNCR demands new election date “or else” …as Opposition Leader David Granger ‘spits fire’ against ruling PPP
A PARTNERSHIP for National Unity (APNU) is furious with the date set by the President Donald Ramotar for the holding of the 2015 General and Regional Elections and at least one of its factions has issued an ultimatum to the Head of State to announce a new date by Tuesday “or else.”
The demand came as the opposition coalition took to its first public platform, since President, Ramotar on Tuesday last announced that May 11 will be Elections Day.
At an APNU orchestrated rally held at the vicinity of the Stabroek Market on Friday evening, Ryan Belgrave, the Chairperson of the Guyana Youth and Student Movement (GYSM) issued the ultimatum citing a conspiracy against the nation’s youth given the coincidental regional examinations.
The GYSM is youth arm of the Peoples National Congress Reform.
Belgrave was supported by other APNU speakers at the forum including, Basil Williams, Volda Lawrence, Annette Ferguson and Keith Scott.
‘OR ELSE’
According to Belgrave, the President has until Tuesday when he convenes the council of Cabinet Ministers at Office of the President.
In the call to action come Tuesday January 27, Belgrave announced to those gathered in the Stabroek Square that the President must announce a new date for Elections “or else” as he said the Guyanese youth must be “ready for action.”
In detailing a conspiracy theory on why the President chose May 11, as the Elections Date, Belgrave said that the plot had been hatched for some time now and juxtaposed a statement purportedly made by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon that the date will not be chosen carelessly.
President Ramotar and the Ministry of Education have both given public assurances that measures will be put in place to ensure there is no disruption to the local leg of the regional examinations.
Belgrave took this to mean evidence of a ploy to undermine the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by forcing it to use private residences as polling stations and as a result the date for the elections must be changed.
While at the podium he also launched a vitriolic assault on Education Minister Priya Manickchand, whom he accused of failing to defend Guyanese children.
PNCR Chairman, Basil Williams, was the keynote speaker on Friday evening’s rally and he dismissed the May 11 elections date altogether calling it illegitimate.
Distilling a constitutional argument to those gathered at the Stabroek Square, in defence of his party’s position, Williams, charged that the date announced by President Ramotar “has no legal validity.”
He suggested that the date announced was a ploy by the President to somehow avoid elections.
The rally started shortly before 19:00hrs in the vicinity of the Guyana Police Force mobile outpost, in the vicinity of the Stabroek Market and while it did grab the attention of curious passersby, it managed to keep only a few scores enthralled.
PLAYING WITH FIRE
The rally however was preceded by a blistering warning from the Opposition Leader, David Granger, who accused the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) of: “playing with fire.”
Granger’s outburst, oddly, came as he was being asked about the incumbent’s possible abuse of State resources in its campaign.
In fact, the Opposition Leader was asked specifically: “Are you at all worried about the possible implications of being outsourced (exact words) by the PPP regime in the upcoming elections considering the fact that the AFC has called on GECOM to publish the guidelines against the abuse of state resources?”
Granger told the media operatives present, “I have written to the Chairman of the Election Commission and I am deeply concerned.”
Informed that GECOM has purportedly indicated that it can only publish guidelines, Granger was again pressed “so are you worried about what this means for your party.”
The Opposition Leader’s response: “I am worried about what the people will do to the publishers of that vile propaganda.”
A somewhat taken aback media corps then heard Granger, expand on his unsolicited deviation by saying “I don’t know if the police are going to be able to restrain those angry people.”
It was at this point that the Opposition Leader declared the, “PPP is playing with fire.”
Granger accused the PPP of being responsible for the publication of a flier purportedly being distributed in interior locations, depicting him in military garb, alongside with the images of Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein.
According to Granger the PPP is playing with fire, “when they start claiming that the Demerara River will run red with blood if Granger is elected President…they are playing with fire and I warn them to desist.”
Expanding further, the retired army brigadier said he was not worried about himself, but rather “I am worried about them,” an obvious reference to the ruling PPP/C administration.
extracted from the Guyana Chronicle
