A FIRED-UP Guyanese Head of State, President Donald Ramotar, yesterday reacted strongly to comments made by United States Ambassador, Brent Hardt, that the delay of local government elections is undermining democracy in Guyana.

Hardt’s comments were carried in yesterday’s issue of the Stabroek News, under the headline, ‘Time for local governance’, where he stated that the absence of local government elections is robbing communities of vital relationships with their political representatives.

[box type=”shadow” align=”alignright” ]“What undermines democracy is when you listen to everybody’s telephone calls and read their e-mails” – President Ramotar declares[/box]
“What undermines democracy is when you listen to everybody’s telephone calls and read their e-mail,” Mr. Ramotar said, referencing the scandal created by a former systems administrator for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Edward Snowden, who, through the now widely-popular ‘WikiLeaks’, went public with revelations about US surveillance on phone and internet communications.
The whistle-blower fled from Hawaii to Hong Kong and is now in exile in Russia, after releasing loads of documents on surveillance in the US and around the world.
The President, who made these remarks during his address at the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) 22nd Annual General Meeting (AGM), made it clear that despite the absence of local government elections, local government services still exist.
“I do not agree that the lack of local government elections undermines democracy,” he stressed.
Mr. Ramotar noted too that the Government is ready for local elections, but was firm in stressing that the Government will not take threats over any issue.
“We will work to defend and protect our country,” the President assured.

UNCERTAINTIES
Earlier this month, during a press conference, Mr. Ramotar made it clear that his Administration is not opposed to calling local government elections, but hinted that the commencement order for this process, as well as general elections, could be based on the impacts of the ruling by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), on May 29, pronounced on Guyana’s failure to address deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework. Through a missive to its members, CFATF effectively blacklisted the country on the international scene when it referred Guyana to FATF.
The President had said, “I don’t know what will happen if the impact of this anti-money laundering bill hits home very, very hard on our economy, and whether we might have to go back and have another mandate.”
He added that as Head of State, he cannot close his eyes to the political reality that obtains as the current state of affairs.
Mr. Ramotar said, “I would prefer to go to Local Government Elections, but I cannot shut my eyes to the political reality that exists and make a bland promise that I would go to Local Government Elections tomorrow, as I would have done had we had the majority in the parliament at this point in time, and we would not have been in the position that we are in today.”
Guyana is still reeling from the impacts of being regionally blacklisted by CFATF last November and FATF is expected to pronounce on Guyana’s fate today.
Written By Vanessa Narine