PPP pressing Granger to hold news conference; declines comment on Granger- Maduro meeting

Last Updated on Monday, 28 September 2015, 16:11 by GxMedia

The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) on Monday continued to pile pressure on the President David Granger-administration to report properly to Guyanese on the border controversy with Venezuela.

PPP General Secretary, Clement Rohee refused to react to the outcome of the meeting between Granger, his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro and the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

Rohee first wants the Guyanese leader to return home and, with Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge at his side, brief the country about the outcome of those discussions that were held on Sunday, September 27, 2015.

The President, who has been several overseas visits, has not held a news conference since assuming office in May, 2015. Instead, he recently began a weekly 30-minute interview programme with a panel of journalists. The government has promised that Granger would hold a news conference soon. “. “I am not prepared to go according to newspaper reports on what the President said and what the President did not say. I would prefer the President, on his return to Guyana, to report to the nation with the Foreign Minister and to tell us exactly what took place,” he said.

The privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper recently criticised the government for its poor information strategy in dealing with the border controversy.

With the UN Chief as the broker, Venezuela agreed to return its Ambassador to Georgetown and grant approval for Cheryl Miles to be accredited to Caracas. Maduro has also agreed to allow a UN fact-finding mission – similar to one that went to Guyana several weeks ago—to travel to Venezuela and then report back to the UN Chief who would then decide on the way forward.

“The Secretary-General praised the willingness of Presidents Granger and Maduro to uphold their countries’ tradition of dialogue while a path toward resolution of the controversy is crafted that will be beneficial to both countries and their peoples,” the UN Secretary General’s office said in a statement.

The President has been briefing Guyanese reporters in New York on what has been transpiring there on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.