Prime Minister greeted with protests in Berbice

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) on Thursday picketed Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo twice in Berbice to express their view on the recent appointment of the new Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman.
The Prime Minister had gone to Corentyne Comprehensive Secondary at Port Mourant to deliver the feature address at the school’s graduation on behalf of President Granger and later in the day, he did the same at New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary at their graduation excise.

On both occasions, he was greeted by protesters as he made his way into the venue. Party supporters chanted, “We want free and fair elections”, “No more rigging” and “Moses sell out”, as they lined the street leading to the school at Port Mourant.
On October 19, 2017, President David Granger appointed retired High Court Judge, Justice James Patterson, age 84, as the new GECOM Chairman.
The appointment has not gone down well with the PPP since the President unilaterally appointed Patterson to the post.
Regional party Chairman, Zamal Hussain, during the protests on Thursday said the PPP is upset over the unilateral decision taken by the President in appointing the new GECOM Chairman.
“In fact, we are against this constitutional dictatorship attitude of the President, whereby he has appointed this 84-year-old man to take up that position at GECOM. This action is a recipe for rigged elections and we are here to protest against the dark days coming back to Guyana and this is something we are trying to stop. The GECOM chairperson is the key in how the 2020 elections will be run,” Hussain said.
Hussain said the party is calling on the President to revoke the appointment of the GECOM Chairman or for Patterson to do the honourable thing and resign.
Meanwhile, parliamentarian, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo explained that GECOM has three Commissioners from the PPP and three from the coalition, noting that if the Commissioners have to vote on an issue and three on one said take a party line and vote and the three on the other side do the same, it will them be the Chairman, in this case, Patterson who has the casting vote.
Hence, that person at the helm should be natural. Dr Mahadeo says the PPP feels the linkages Patterson has with the People’s National Congress might prevent him from making a free and fair decision on issues which have to be voted on by the Commission. (Andrew Carmichael)