Jagdeo’s threats will not deter me! – GECOM Commissioner Desmond Trotman
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Commissioner and member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Desmond Trotman says no amount of threats by Opposition Leader and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Bharrat Jagdeo will deter him from representing the rights of the people in his capacity as GECOM commissioner.
“No threat to my life or liberty will deter me from representing the interest of the people at GECOM. No threat and Jagdeo could write who the hell he wants. When GECOM sits down to determine the way forward what is first in my mind is the interest of the people and I am going to represent the interest of the people. It seems to me that the interest of the people conflicts with the interest of Jagdeo and the PPP, and that is their business,” Trotman said.
During a recent appearance on ‘Walter Rodney Groundings’ the veteran commissioner ‘stated that Jagdeo lacks the moral authority to call for sanctions to be instituted against anyone, given his record of abuses whilst he served as President.
“Another thing that we should be concerned about is that Jagdeo of all persons who should have been sanctioned by the international community has not yet been. He has committed some of the worst crimes against the Guyanese people. He has persons sitting as commissioners at GECOM for whom some of the most serious allegations have been made when they were ministers of the government and he has not sought to have them sanctioned. Instead, he wants to move to sanction persons who are representing the interest of the people,”
Trotman re-emphasised that he will not be deterred in his duties and opined that both Commissioners Vincent Alexander and Charles Corbin will “stay on course with this matter.”
“The interest of the people of this country is paramount to Commissioners Alexander, Corbin and myself and notwithstanding what Jagdeo says, we are going to continue to argue for the interest of the people to be placed first and foremost above any party interest. His commissioners only come to the commission to argue the PPP’s position. We go to the commission and argue for the people’s interest,” Trotman underscored
Further, the WPA Executive member said Guyanese must demand that the former President, Jagdeo be brought to justice for the many crimes against citizens. He said the crimes Jagdeo is accused of cannot be swept away by his claims to presidential immunity.
“The allegations against Jagdeo are allegations that no world leader should ever have to face the courts for. In Guyana, with such a small population, allegations have been made against no lesser person that Jagdeo; that he sat down with Roger Khan and identified persons to be killed. Guyanese! He should have been sanctioned a long time ago and so I say to the Guyanese people, let him call for sanctions but you, in turn, must demand that he be sanctioned because the offences that he has committed are grave and cannot be justified; and even if he claims that he has presidential immunity it does not permit him to act in the manner he has. Guyanese out there have the right to raise their voices and call loudly for sanctions against him and all of those other guilty persons, including some of his commissioners, because they too should be sanctioned,” Trotman noted.
The long-standing political and human rights activist made these statements in response to threats by Bharrat Jagdeo to having government nominated commissioners Vincent Alexander, Charles Corbin and Desmond Trotman sanctioned, by the international community, for insisting that there must be house to house registration before the hosting of General and Regional Elections despite oppositions calls for elections in 90 days following the December 21 vote in the National Assembly.
Kidackie Amsterdam.