Home Letters President Ali tells it like it is: Harmon must quit “illegitimate Govt”...
Dear Editor,
I am very happy that President Dr Irfaan Ali is remaining most inflexible in his position that Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon and his parliamentary colleagues recognise the winning People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government as legitimate.
In fact, Harmon’s quest for dialogue with this PPP/C Government exposes his confused and contorted state of mind. It also reveals a contradiction in his philosophy and politics.
I ask a simple question: “Is Harmon a rational, law-respecting person?
As far back as September 2020, President Irfan Ali, at the United Nations 75th General Assembly, made his policy clear: “…my Government is committed to greater political inclusion and to enacting institutional reforms to ensure that democracy, the rule of law, and constitutional rights be respected.”
However, what we have is a case where Harmon is eager to meet with President Ali in what he says is in the ‘national interest,’ but, at the same time, he is maintaining his ‘non-recognition of the PPP/C Government.’ Mr. Harmon needs to be schooled; the two positions are in contradistinction. At the personal level, he may disrespect the PPP/C and the President, but at the legal and political level, he is without a choice; he must bow to the Government of the day.
In this maleficent, contradictory posture, Harmon has actually gone ahead in his bid to get the help of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to mediate on the current stalemate between him (really his APNU+AFC) and the Irfaan Ali Government. Currently, he is upset at the ‘no-response as yet’ from CARICOM.
Well, let me recap a few important matters, and make my point clear: that Harmon is ‘way out of order.’
In July of 2020, more than three months after the 2020 Elections, the then ruling Coalition, via Harmon, their point man, made it abundantly clear that they would not heed calls to concede that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) did in fact win the elections, even as he was part of the effort to stymie the official declaration of the election result, which showed a PPP/C victory.
He was emphatic then, and stated that “calls to concede in the circumstance (that they themselves created), irrespective of the sources (from) they were coming at the time, were prematurely a coercive ploy, a violation of (our) constitution and laws.”
He said, “We will not bend,” even though all knew that the three Reports submitted by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield to the Elections Commission were marred by fictitious and manufactured figures, and did not follow due procedures and legal processes. Harmon wanted ratification for a false win; that is, a stolen victory, to be aided and abetted by all of the observers.
We all recall how the likes of St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley were verbally harangued all because CARICOM et al wanted Guyana’s democracy to be preserved.
Back then, Harmon’s reason was that “Guyana is an independent and sovereign state, and respects and cherishes relations at a diplomatic level with all states.” He resisted the calls for such by Caricom (and the other legitimate international observer teams). In fact, his exact words were: “We stand firm against any threats or actions which are aimed at violating the trust which exists between our leadership and our people.”
Let me add another piece from Harmon at this time. This filibustering politician said that the Organization of American States (OAS) went into the “boundary of “interference” when it declared that the National Recount would yield a credible result for the March 2nd General and Regional Elections. Now he seems oblivious of ‘boundaries’ and ‘interference,’ more so in a totally domestic matter. So, I am very surprised that he is begging that help come his way from the said people he renounced when he was not being supported in his quest to steal the 2020 Guyana Elections.
I reiterate (from a legal standpoint too) that the PPP/C won ‘fair and square.’ This means that Harmon will have to bend and accept this legitimate Government. He may continue to disrespect the Government and President Ali, but he cannot get by without accepting and recognising the ruling party.
I am with President Ali, as he “…urged the Opposition Leader to desist from the false narrative he perpetuates, that the PPP is not the legitimate Government, and “There’s no compromise on that.”
Yours truly,
Baldeo Mathura
