Demerara Waves Online News- Guyana Riding on the Crest of Truth
Last Updated on Sunday, 15 September 2024, 20:39 by Writer
CARICOM Chairman, Barbados’ Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley flanked by (left to right) the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; the Prime Minister of Grenada, Keith Mitchell; the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley and the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves. (File photo).
The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves on Saturday declared that he is a “friend” of Guyana and its President, Irfaan Ali, but in an effort to settle the dispute over the 2020 election results, he sole interest was to ensure that the laws were obeyed.
“All I was asking for in Guyana was that the institutions of governance laid down in the Constitution and the law verify the votes; the same thing happened in Venezuela,” he told Demerara Waves Online News. Told that he had stated very early that he supported Mr Nicolás Maduro’s declaration as the winner, he said Venezuelan authorities were not counting the votes as Venezuela has “one of the most sophisticated modern systems of voting” that has received favourable comment from the Carter Center.
“All I want is everything to be done in accordance with what the law says,” he added.
Amid the controversy over the outcome of Guyana’s 2020 general and regional elections, he had publicly told then incumbent President, David Granger of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led coalition to “tek yuh licks like a man.”
The Vincentian leader; Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley; Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit; Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley, and then Prime Minister of Grenada Dr Keith Mitchell had in 2020 flown to Guyana and held meetings with Mr Granger and then Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. Those engagements had led to a Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-supervised national vote recount which had produced results in favour of the PPP and similar to the Guyana Elections Commission’s Statements of Polls.
The then Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield and the then Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo had issued different declarations in favour of Mr Granger’s coalition, prior to the recount in accordance with a GECOM Order for the resolution of difficulties.
Asked why should the broad masses of Guyanese believe that he would be taking a neutral stand if he has to be part of a CARICOM mission for next year’s general elections given the fact that he had taken a different stand in relation to Venezuela, Dr Gonsalves maintained that there was no difference. “I haven’t taken a different stand in Venezuela. I had taken a stand in Venezuela that the institutions, the mechanisms of the state must work,” he said.
Referring to the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy, the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines said “Guyana is my friend, Irfaan is my friend, the Guyanese people are my friends as is Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and his only interest was peace to allow Guyana to prosper.
Questioned about how that might be regarded by the political opposition here, Dr Gonsalves said he has had a long relationship with the PPP. “Politically, historically, I’ve had relations with the PPP for donkey years. I have admired many things of Forbes Burnham and the PNC. One side of the political party which has become the Unity Labour Party which has had elements from the left represented by Ralph and the social democratic side by the old Labour Party. The Founding Father of that party which is within the party I lead for the last quarter century; his (Milton Cato) best friend at university was Forbes Burnham,” he said.
Dr Gonsalves said there were many Vincentians in Guyana and Guyanese in St Vincent who have become citizens. “St Vincent and the Grenadines for all the years, under my leadership, is one country that has never discriminated against Guyanese in good times and in bad times. Talk to them and they’ll tell you. I give them citizenship, I encourage them to stay and they’re doing a fantastic job in St Vincent and I want more of them,” he said.