THERE has been no “changement” (no change) in a decision taken by the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) not to support the appointment of GECOM’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Richard Francois, owing to what they described as his political affiliations.

This was according to General Secretary of the Party, Mr. Clement Rohee, who made the disclosure yesterday at his party’s weekly press conference, which was held at Freedom House.
According to Rohee, there has been no change in the party’s position regarding the controversial appointment of Francois which took place a few months ago. “The French would call it ‘changement’, so there is no changement,” Rohee assured yesterday while noting that the position of the party remains the same.
However, the General Secretary remained optimistic in disclosing that the party hopes that there is no change for the worse while they’d welcome changes for the better.
Concerns which were raised by the party, according to Rohee, were addressed by GECOM Chairman Dr. Steve Surujbally, who indicated to the PPP how the elections regulatory body went about selecting Francois as PRO.
Dr. Surujbally’s response, Rohee said, came in a letter which gave the party a “kind of measured assurance that Mr. Francois’ performance will be evaluated as time goes by.”

NOT PLEASED
Nevertheless, the General Secretary expressed on behalf of the party that they are still not pleased with this move. “No, the party is not pleased with that, not at all. We’ll have to take a compromise on our position with respect to Mr. Francois,” Rohee stated.
Since Francois’ appointment as PRO, the party has expressed concerns as it relates to the integrity of GECOM, taking into consideration, the “political background and allegiance” of Francois.
According to the PPP in an earlier statement, François is openly sympathetic and supports the political Opposition which could “compromise” his position as an official of GECOM.
As such, they made a call on GECOM to explain and re-examine Francois’s appointment, since the party believes that there are incidents involving the GECOM official which display a lack of professionalism due to his alleged affiliations.

(Ravin Singh)