Caribbean News Desk radio prog: Guyana’s opposition calls on Caricom to intervene in political impasse

Last Updated on Friday, 28 November 2014, 22:00 by GxMedia

Guyana’s Opposition Leader, David Granger has asked the 15-nation Caricom or Caribbean Community (Caricom) to intervene in his country’s political impasse.

At the heart of the crisis is the fact that Parliament has not met since July of this year even after two-month recess ended in October.

In outlining his concerns in the letter to Caricom Secretary General, Irwin La Rocque, the Opposition Leader has called for an emergency meeting to consider a collective approach to what he terms the governance crisis in Guyana.

Mr Granger told Caribbean News Desk that his move to Caricom was not about mediation but about piling pressure on the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) administration which has a one-seat minority in the 65-seat National Assembly.

Caricom leaders are due to meet for the mid-term summit next February in The Bahamas.

During the recess, the smaller opposition Alliance For Change (AFC) filed a no-confidence motion that would have been passed with the support of the larger opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).

To avoid the no-confidence motion from being passed and President Ramotar and his Cabinet having to resign and hold elections in 90 days, the Guyanese leader suspended Parliament on November 10- the same day that the National Assembly should have held a sitting.

In the face of calls by the Organisation of American States and Western Nations for the Parliamentary suspension to be lifted, President Donald Ramotar has repeatedly called on the opposition to hold talks, resolve some of the issues and agree to a Parliamentary agenda.

But the Opposition continues to insist that that it will not talk unless the suspension is brought to an end.

Government’s position is that if there are no talks, the President will then dissolve Parliament and call fresh general elections.

YOU CAN LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD THE FRIDAY EDITION OF CARIBBEAN NEWS DESK HERE: {mp3remote}https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/143143643/caribnewsdesk/caribnews_nov28_2014.MP3{/mp3remote}

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