US congress reps hear of Ramotar’s “creeping dictatorship”

By Abena Rockcliffe

President Donald Ramotar was labeled a “creeping dictator” as United States (US) based

The Guyana delegation with members of congress Yvette Clarke and Hakeem Jeffries.

members and supporters of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) sought international intervention into the state of affairs in Guyana.
The Guyanese delegation met on Tuesday in New York with United States Members of Congress Yvette Clarke and Hakeem Jeffries, to discuss the “fast deteriorating political situation in Guyana.”
The delegation was made up of members and supporters of APNU, AFC and New York Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) and not only AFC representatives as was previously reported.
That article was based on a statement delivered at an official press briefing held by AFC on Thursday.
Kaieteur News was subsequently informed that the meeting was arranged by President of CGID Rickford Burke who is affiliated with APNU and that it was he who invited AFC representatives.
Burke however confirmed that the delegation indeed decried President Ramotar’s November 10th prorogation of Parliament which many believed was done to stop the passage of the no-confidence motion against his “Marxist, People’s Progressive (PPP) regime.”
Kaieteur News understands that the Guyanese delegation warned the US politicians that President Ramotar is a burgeoning dictator who has imposed a one party PPP rule in Guyana, and stressed that the US and the international community must not harbor another dangerous, Marxist dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere.
The delegation reportedly gave reasons for such a harsh description of the Guyana government and why the no-confidence motion was laid.
The evidence and justification for the no-confidence motion, which the delegation presented this newspaper was told, “read like an indictment bill of particulars.”
Burning issues such as government’s “unlawful transfer of billions of public funds into secret bank accounts, malicious issuance of all television and radio licenses exclusively to friends and family members of government officials and party supporters and abuse of the state media and other state resources” were highlighted.
Also highlighted was the leaking of constitutionally protected tax information and the refusal to investigate or interdict Guyana’s Attorney General, Anand Nandlall, who was recorded in a conversation saying that “innocent lives” of those who work at Kaieteur News will be taken because of the newspaper’s stance on certain issues. Representatives pointed out that masked gunmen previously invaded the Kaieteur newspapers office and murdered five employees.
Kaieteur News was informed that Burke told the US officials that President Ramotar conspired to depose the Parliament ever since his party lost its majority in 2011. He said that Ramotar and his Cabinet have lost legitimacy and must therefore call General Elections within three months, in accordance with the Constitution. Burke called on the US government to pressure President Ramotar to call elections and to impose severe sanctions on the government if he fails to do so.
Burke was the one who described Ramotar as a “creeping dictator” who engineered the current “constitutional crisis so that he can later declare a state of emergency and dissolve the Parliament. He said Ramotar plans to use the state of emergency as a subterfuge to invoke Article 70 (5) of the constitution to recall the dissolved Parliament and circumvent General Elections.”
The CGID head contended that Article 70 (5) can be invoked repeatedly at twelve month intervals for up to five years, during which time Ramotar plans to govern singularly by dictator’s decree.
Derrick Arjune of the Center for Social Justice & Development observed that President Ramotar effectively aborted the democratic process and silenced the majority of the electorate who in 2011, give the political opposition 52% of the vote. He argued that the suspension of Parliament also prevented debate on, and possible punishment of, the Attorney General as well as the Minister of Finance for flagrant violations of the law.
Anita Jaikaran and Ewart Marshall from the AFC elucidated the rationale for the no-confidence motion. While APNU and PNCR representatives Terrence Simon and Morris Wilson chronicled their parties fight for local government elections since 1994. Wilson said the PPP regime has for twenty-years refused to hold local elections and has been supplanting elected municipal councils with PPP management committees against the will of the people.
Kaieteur News understands that the Members of Congress expressed dismay at this constitutional breakdown.
Representatives Clarke and Jeffries expressed concern about the breakdown of democracy and the constitution in Guyana. They pledged to remain engaged, and to work with other Members of Congress and the Obama Administration to ensure a restoration of the democratic process and constitutional governance in Guyana.