Former President David Granger has declined the invitation from President Dr Irfaan Ali to attend a meeting with former presidents to discuss Guyana’s development.
See full statement from the Peoples National Congress Reform:
Former President David Granger has acknowledged receipt of a letter dated 4th December from Hon. Gail Teixeira, Minister of Governance inviting him to a ‘working lunch’ at 12:00 hours on Tuesday 15th December at State House.
The Minister’s letter, however, neither explained amply the purpose of the intended meeting nor recommended an agenda for his examination. There was no indication of the preparation that would be needed, the relevance of the engagement to government policies and the outcome that would be expected from deliberations. The President’s intention on the other hand, according newspaper reports was to generate ideas on ‘Guyana’s development’.
Granger pointed out that he regards ‘Guyana’s development as a serious matter’, recalling that, on 1st January 2020, he launched ‘Guyana’s decade of development, 2020 – 2029: Overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty’ in which he outlined his concept for the country’s long-term development.
Granger emphasized, further, that there is public concern about certain governmental actions – including the high rates of deaths as a result of the pandemic; unwarranted dismissals of public servants; harassment of Elections Commission officials and human rights violations – which can have consequences for Guyana’s short-, medium- and long-term national development.
Granger emphasized that it would be a huge public disappointment for the proposed high-level meeting to take place, hurriedly, in an unorganized, unplanned manner and without a predictable prospect of progress or success. He felt that it would be a blunder to ignore the legitimate concerns of a significant section of the population and the aspirations of the majority of our people, especially those enduring the privations of the pandemic.
He recommended, therefore, that the meeting intended to be held on Tuesday 15th December 2020 be deferred until these important issues could be satisfactorily settled.
