Post-elections analysis by Rickey Singh
SOME quite significant political developments occurred in Guyana last week amid official celebratory activities marking the nation’s 49th Independence anniversary and the emergence of a coalition Government headed by President David Granger, leader of the People’s National Congress (PNC) and chairman of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

Ironically, while President Granger was making encouraging calls for “national unity” – subsequently urged also in Georgetown by the internationally noted Statesman, Sir Shridath Ramphal –there were some quite contradictory, divisive moves.
Most sensational of these was the unprecedented summoning to court of former Head of State, President Bharrat Jagdeo to answer, on the eve of Independence day, a criminal charge for alleged “racial incitement” during the May 11 elections campaign. Jagdeo, also a very influential official of the PPP, was not required by the magistrate to offer a plea to the private charge brought by a known political critic/activist, Christopher Ram.
The former two-term President’s lawyer, Anil Nandlall, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs in the past Government, deemed the charge to be “dubious…completely without merit, malicious and concocted….” and vowed to “ensure that justice is done”.

Dr. Jagdeo’s legal team has already filed a petition to the High Court calling for the withdrawal of a travel restriction imposed on him pending the magistrate court’s trial of the private charge for alleged “racial incitement”.
Amid that controversial political development came also quite a surprising announcement by President Granger — then still engaged in shaping his first post-election cabinet.
He announced that due to a lack of funds, his Administration may have to bring an end to further hearings by the Commission of Inquiry into the killing of the internationally renowned historian and co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. Walter Rodney.
Doubts over ‘Rodney Inquiry’

The COI, comprising a trio of outstanding legal luminaries from within CARICOM, was established by the previous PPP/C-led Government in February 2014 – some 33 years after his death. Rodney was killed by a bomb, concealed in a ‘walkie talkie’, allegedly by an agent of a then PNC-led Government on the night of June 13, 1980 while sitting in his car with his brother Donald, in Georgetown. Donald Rodney was seriously wounded in the incident that claimed the life of his famous brother, Walter.
In his surprise announcement of the coming closure of the probe into Rodney’s death, for which the PNC had originally refused to cooperate, President Granger claimed that “the Commission has not performed adequately…A lot of time and money have been wasted and I would like to bring it to a conclusion…more money, further extensions – out of the question….”

And so, last week, Guyanese were faced with three new surprising political developments: First, that of former two-term Head of State, Jagdeo, being summoned to court on a charge of alleged “racial incitement” during the recent general elections.
Secondly, the stated intention by the new President, Granger, to wind up the international probe into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney, and thirdly, the announcement last Thursday of the opposition PPP’s filing of its constitutional motion with the High Court for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to provide specific documentation pertaining to the declared results of the May 11 elections that gave a one-seat majority in the 65-member National Assembly to the governing APNU/AFC coalition.
Against the backdrop of such developments, the internationally reputable United States-based Carter Centre, has officially requested GECOM to make available specific data pertaining to the declared results of the May 11 elections.
Carter Centre and GECOM
The Centre, whose founder is former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, had played a most vital role in the restoration of free and fair elections in Guyana for the historic October 1992 elections which resulted in the return to state power of the PPP, after almost a 24-year period of rigged polls.
Among other requests to GECOM, the Carter Centre urged the development of a new management body to conduct all elections — parliamentary as well as local government, the latter currently much overdue.
Whatever may be the political orientation or persuasion of readers, the harsh reality, as referenced in an earlier column, of the post-elections challenges, require realistic, structured cooperation between President David Granger’s coalition Administration and former President Donald Ramotar and the People’s Progressive Party.

(Rickey Singh is a noted Guyana-born Caribbean journalist based in Barbados)