Granger agrees to meet Ramotar again

… Dismisses concerns about “media based communications” 

By Abena Rockcliffe
Leader of the Opposition, David Granger, has said that he will meet with President Donald Ramotar after the Head of

Opposition Leader, David Granger

State returns from his New York trip. However, he said he will not be budging from his position with regards to the urgency in which Local Government must be held across Guyana.

Granger added that he has no apologies for keeping the media up to date with his writings to the President and the calls or demands made therein.
On Saturday, President Ramotar, just before leaving the country to attend the United Nations General Assembly, sent a letter to Granger.
In the letter, Ramotar reiterated, his (government’s) “continued commitment to meet with the Opposition on matters of importance to the Guyanese people.”

He said, “On Thursday, September 11, 2014, I responded to your letter of September 9, 2014 and requested clarification about your insistence on matters pertaining to the Local Government Elections. While awaiting your response, Office of the President noted your resort to the media where you have been reported to have agreed to commence protests in support of your demands for Local Government Elections.”

Ramotar told Granger that he, Ramotar, does not appreciate the fact that Granger included the media in his communications.
The President said, “I must, for the record, express my deep reservation about this media based communication style you have recently adopted in dealing with my Office. There is nothing that my team and I have done to prompt you to disregard our usual format. As such, I again extend to you an opportunity at your convenience to meet on these critical issues.”
Yesterday, Granger told Kaieteur News that he has no apologies for his “media based communication style” and that the President was basically being given a proverbial taste of his own medicine.

He said that it was President Ramotar who broke every “ethical rule by accusing me of being involved in the removal of

President Donald Ramotar

arms and ammunition from the Guyana Defense Force (GDF)…He was the one who ran to the media with a completely false story…It had really disturbed me that he went to the media.”
Granger said, “So as far as running to the media is concerned, (President Ramotar) is not one to speak because if he wanted to know about GDF he could have asked the person who was in charge at the time.”

But even with those concerns, Granger said that he will not miss an opportunity to meet with the President. In fact, he said that on every occasion when the president sought a meeting on matters affecting the country, “I responded favourably…and I will do that for yet another time.
Granger told Kaieteur News that his initial letter to the President demanding that he announce a date for Local Government Elections to be held countrywide by September 15 was entirely in accordance with so called policies of the People’s Progressive Party administration, the Local Government Bills passed in the National Assembly and the constitution.
He said that he will not budge from his position that the holding of Local Government Elections is a matter of urgency.

Asked if he has plans to bring up other matters of concerns at his impending meeting with the President, Granger responded in the negative.
He said that Local Government Elections is A Partnership for National Unity’s main concern at the moment.

President Ramotar is expected to return to Guyana on September 30. No date has so far been set for the holding of this meeting.