Business community unites in protest over GECOM appointment

…convinced this was the plan all along
…says AFC should be ashamed of its cowardice

The local business community has begun joining forces in their denunciation of the unilateral appointment of retired Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); saying the move will no doubt add to the slowdown of the economy and further loss of investor confidence in Guyana.
This latest salvo against Head of State David Granger was fired by Deodat Indar, the head of the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce, who at the beginning of the business week publicly registered the Chambers’ disappointment in the actions taken by the President.
“The Chambers views the departure from established protocols agreed to by both parties in the Carter/Price formulae and the provisions enshrined in our Constitution under Article 161 (2) for the appointment of the Chairman as unfortunate.”
According to Indar, “the current political dilemma will only add and deepen the division in Guyana and will negatively affect our fledgling democracy.”
The Georgetown chapter of the business community’s umbrella organisation was joined by the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce which “strongly condemns the blatant disregard for the constitutional process in the unilateral appointment” of the GECM Chairman.
The Berbice headquartered organisation stated bluntly “we are convinced that this is what the President and his advisers wanted to do all along, ever since the first list was submitted and he rejected names like Christopher Ram and Lawrence Latchmansingh.”
The Chambers questioned “how else can one explain why a practice for 25 years was thrown through the windows and the President even rejected a man (Major General Ret’d Joseph Singh) who was proposed by the then PNC when in Opposition.”
That body has since joined with its Georgetown-based counterpart to say the actions of the President “will do immense damage to our fledgling democracy.”
The Private Sector Commission had earlier called President Granger’s appointment of Justice (rtd) Patterson as a ‘dangerous’ development.

Pathetic AFC
The Corentyne-based Chambers, in criticising the move on the part of President Granger, said “his senseless action will severely dent, if not kill, any future cross-over voting by the two major races of Guyana and throw us back to the 70’s and 80’s.”
According to the Corentyne Chambers, “instead of trying to build a country, people will once again be consumed by ‘rigged elections’ as the suspicions and fears of the ‘rigging machines’ of the old PNC come to life.”
Meanwhile, the Chambers also used the occasions to single out coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC), to share “a great deal of blame for this state of affairs.”
Speaking to its official position and defence of the President’s actions, the Chambers said the AFC’s “statement on a ‘looming constitutional crisis’ has been nothing but pathetic.”
The AFC while claiming to not be involved in the decision-making process of unilaterally selecting a GECOM Chairman, the party had subsequently issued a statement in support of President Granger saying that the action had averted a looming constitutional crisis.
The Corentyne Chambers – home to a large section of the AFC’s support base – said “they should be ashamed of themselves as they were the ones who helped to create this crisis in the first place by their cowardly attitude in not demanding their partner abide with a practice which served the people for 25 years.”
The Chambers accused the party of having forgotten “that many of them (especially Ramjattan and Nagamootoo), fought for decades for free and fair elections including this very matter, which they are now loosely and casually compromising themselves to support… What a shame!”
The Corentyne association was adamant; the AFC leadership through its complicity “are presiding over the final rites of their party and is so doing has doomed us to the two major parties for the foreseeable future.”

The Chambers used the occasion too to recognise that by the President’s own definition justice Patterson is clearly not fit and proper; “No experience in electoral matters, he is a religious leader, and to crown it all, Patterson is an adviser to the Attorney General, an employee of the government.”

Unilateral
President Granger on Thursday last met with Opposition Leader Jagdeo and informed him that the third list of nominees for the post of GECOM Chairman was unacceptable and that Justice (rtd) Patterson would be appointed.
The first list of names was submitted in December last by Jagdeo and included Major General (retd) Norman McLean; Attorney and Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram; Business Executive Ramesh Dookhoo; Governance and Conflict Resolution Specialist, Lawrence Lachmansingh; Rights Activist Ryhaan Shah; and Professor James Rose.
This list was rejected by the President after the Opposition Leader submitted for consideration former appellate Judge BS Roy; former High Court Justice William Ramlall; former Magistrate and now practising Attorney Oneidge Walrond-Allicock; Attorneys Kashir Khan and Nadia Sagar, and former Guyana Defence Force Captain and businessman Gerald Gouveia for the post.
This was also rejected before Jagdeo on August 25, submitted a third list containing Joseph Singh, a retired Guyana Defence Force Major General, who previously served as GECOM Chairman; former long-serving Magistrate Krishenndat Persaud; Attorneys Teni Housty and Sanjeev Datadin; pilot and biodiversity advocate Annette Arjoon-Martins; and Adventist pastor and agriculturalist Onesi La Fleur.
The President formally rejected this list on Thursday and immediately swore in Justice (rtd) Patterson who was himself notified only hours earlier.