Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo Monday night said he was prepared to nominate more persons for the post of Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman, but threatened to pull out of talks with President David Granger if there is bad faith.
“We are acting in good faith but if the government does not act in good faith, then we will be put in a situation where we will have not to participate in this process,” Gail Teixeira told a news briefing.
Attorney-at-Law Anil Nandlall, who is one Jagdeo’s representatives in the talks, gave government an ultimatum for committing to consider Jagdeo’s nominees. “That does not augur well for the continuation of the process…we will not be persuaded that the government is acting in good faith”, he said.
Nandlall came very close to saying that Granger’s suggested names are aligned to the People’s National Congress Reform, the largest party in the governing coalition. “Look at those names of persons who are highly politically connected to the government,” he said.
The eight persons nominated by the Head of State are retired justices Stanley Moore and Claudette La Bennet, Economist Dr. Aubrey Armstrong, former PNC/R executive members Stanley Ming and Kaddim Khan, former GECOM Chairman (ret’d) Justice James Patterson, former Solicitor General, Kim Kyte and Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) Chairperson and Attorney, Kessaundra Alves.
Moore is a former Home Affairs Minister in the People’s National Congress (PNC) government, Armstrong had chaired an arbitration tribunal that had awarded huge salary increases to public servants.
