PRONOUNCEMENTS by the leader of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), David Granger, regarding an invitation for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) to join a “national unity” movement has been dubbed a political gimmick.The party, in a statement, said: “The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wishes to label as deceptive, the pronouncements made in the press by Leader of the APNU+AFC coalition, David Granger, that he has invited the PPP/C to join “a national unity movement.”
It added that to date there has been no formal or informal invitation from the APNU+AFC on the matter. “The pronouncement therefore of Granger, is a political gimmick and nothing else,” the PPP said.
The party’s comment follows a similar denunciation by the PPP/C leader, Mr Donald Ramotar, who made it clear that no offer to form a national unity movement was made to him.
Reports from local media outlets have reported that the new Head of State made the offer during a telephone conversation last Friday. Mr. Granger is reported to have expressed his disappointment that Mr. Ramotar has not accepted his offer for close working relations.
“Guyana has turned the corner. It will be a better Government…we are not in the business of winner takes all and locking people out. I would like a Government of all the people and that is why I would like to ask former President Ramotar to reconsider his position,” Granger was quoted by an online site as saying.
However, the PPP/C leader, when contacted by the Chronicle, noted that this was not so and contends that Mr. Granger is being “disingenuous” in asserting any other position.
“We had no discussions on forming a national unity Government. I never had any such conversation with Mr. Granger. We did, indeed, speak last Friday, but in that conversation I was speaking to him about the provocation, attacks, insults and triumphalism being directed to PPP supporters,” Mr. Ramotar said.
He maintains his contention that the APNU+AFC Government does not reflect the will of the Guyanese people, taking into consideration that the PPP/C views the electoral process as “severely” compromised.
The PPP/C leader highlighted that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) by its constitutional mandate and the electoral observer missions have made pronouncements on the elections without taking into account the real concerns that have been brought to their attention by the party.
The PPP/C is maintaining its course in advancing a case to the High Court to challenge the 2015 General and Regional election.