United States disassociates itself from political scientist’s dated, private comments on Guyana

Last Updated on Monday, 23 December 2019, 23:02 by Writer

The United States on Tuesday disassociated itself from dated, private comments by American Political Science Professor Robert Evan Ellis who has forecast a likely victory for the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) at the next general elections.

The diplomatic mission said Ellis’ comments “in no way reflect an official position” and he had written those “last April before his employment with the U.S. State Department”.

The American embassy said the US’ “only interest is in free, fair and peaceful elections on March 2, 2020.” “The outcome of the election is for the people of Guyana to decide,” the embassy added.

The comments by Professor Ellis are contained in his paper titled “Security Challenges in Guyana and the Government Response” in Journal of the Americas, a US Air Force publication.

The American embassy says it regrets any inconvenience caused by Ellis’ “dated comments.”

The governing A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change coalition has flayed Professor Ellis for predicting that the opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) is likely to be victorious at the next elections.

The coalition says Professor Ellis is a ‘known asset’ of a certain lobbying firm in the United States that has been paid tens of millions of dollars by the PPP to whitewash its tainted and tattered image.

Ellis says “with the likely return of the PPP to power”, that party was expected to use some of its oil revenues to hire Chinese companies to construct major infrastructural projects. He went on to say in his paper that the US should ensure that a PPP administration sticks to promises to address corruption and ensure transparency. “At the same time, given concerns regarding corruption in prior PPP administrations, while the US should embrace and work in good faith with a future PPP government, it must do so with its eyes open, holding the PPP to account with respect to its commitments to transparency, democracy, and commitment to free market and the rule of law”.