WITH three months to go until the May 11 General and Regional elections and the absence of campaign financing regulations, General Secretary of the ruling party, Clement Rohee, contends that there is no “free for all.”“There are no laws at this point in time, no statutory regulations, to address this matter. I would not say that in the absence of that it is a free for all,” he said yesterday, during the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) weekly press conference held at Freedom House.
Rohee was unable to cite a specific sum earmarked for the 2015 election campaign.
However, he assured that the ruling party has always striven to maintain a balance between a modest campaign and one that responds to the expectations of the Guyanese people, as it relates to campaign activities.
“Campaigns are indeed costly. Nevertheless, we try our utmost to keep down the cost….we look at what was spent in 2011 and as a matter of principle, we work to keep down our costs,” Rohee said.
He added that the party’s resources are raised through fundraising activities locally and abroad.
“We do have some resources…these resources come mainly from fund- raising activities organised by the party inside Guyana and outside of Guyana, but this is not an unlimited sum…we always try to keep our costs down…it is a question of cutting the cloth to fit the person wearing the suit. We try to do our best with the resources at our disposal,” Rohee said.
LAUNCHING SOON
The general secretary also stated that the party is expected to officially launch its campaign soon.
He also told the Guyana Chronicle that while the party’s campaign has not been officially launched, the party’s work on the ground continues apace.
“As a tradition we do not name a campaign manager and we do not have such a person designated,” he added, in response to queries from the media.
Asked about the naming of a prime ministerial candidate, he disclosed that the party is still deliberating on that issue.
“There is no word on this as yet. The party is still deliberating on this, as well as on other important matters…as soon as these matters are fully settled we shall notify the media,” Rohee said, yesterday,
Incumbent President Donald Ramotar, who is the party’s presidential candidate, has the full backing of his party, according to him. “It is a resounding Y-E-S,” Rohee posited.
He also stressed that the position of former President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, stands and he will not be pursuing a third term.
“There have been no other developments since then [when an official statement was made]. The statement remains valid and relevant,” Rohee said.
EARLY ELECTIONS
The move to early elections resulted from the fact that the objectives of prorogation – in face of a no-confidence motion against the Government and the consequent dissolution of Parliament – failed in the opinion of the current Administration.
Given the posture of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), President Ramotar has always maintained that the need for dialogue was uppermost in his mind when he made his decision to prorogue Parliament on November 10.
Paving the way for greater dialogue among political parties, he contended, would have kept the 10th Parliament alive to address critically important issues currently before the House.
The effect of ending the first session of the 10th Parliament by way of prorogation is the suspension of the business of the National Assembly. As a result of that move, an AFC-sponsored ‘No-Confidence’ motion was not considered. Also, APNU had, prior to November 10, signalled its intention to support the motion.
Had it not been for the proclamation to prorogue Parliament, if the no-confidence motion had been approved by the political Opposition, Guyana would have been headed to early general elections within three months. However, President Ramotar had made it clear that if these efforts proved futile, there would be a move to early general elections.
Since the prorogation, APNU and the AFC have made it clear that they will not engage the President in talks unless the prorogation is lifted and parliamentary work resumes. The rejection of talks was also formally communicated by APNU Leader Brigadier (rtd) David Granger in a December 2 letter responding to the President’s November 18 invitation for talks.
As a result, the Head of State early last December indicated that Guyana will head to early General and Regional Elections, just over three years since the November 2011 polls.