PM Nagamootoo scolds Sase Gunraj for disrespectful and irresponsible statement

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, August 8, 2019

Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo has scolded PPP-appointed Commissioner of Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Sase Gunraj for his comments following the meeting between President David Granger and GECOM today.

Gunraj is reported to have commented that, “what we were subject to is the regular nonsense from the executive”.

Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that Gunraj was “rude and disrespectful to the executive”.

“Even if it was the first formal meeting between His Excellency, President David Granger and the new Chairman Justice (retd) Claudette Singh, it was indecent of the opposition appointed Commissioner Gunraj to consider such a meeting “a waste of time” as Gunraj is reported to have said.”

Prime Minister Nagamootoo added that “President Granger exercised his prerogative to have consultation with the new GECOM Chairman and the commissioners, and I cannot see how the consultative process can be a deemed “a waste of time.”

“If the President hadn’t done so they would sing a different tune that he had ignored GECOM,” the Prime Minister reasoned.

“For someone who holds a constitutional office as a member of the elections commission it is unbecoming and infantile behaviour that meeting with the new chairman shows that the president is paying due respect for the independent authority of the commission. This meeting provided an opportunity for the commission to advise the president if they were in a position to do so,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo explained.

“This is typical. PPP seems to be stuck in its irresponsible and contentious behaviour in the face of the initiative by the executive to keep the door of engagement and dialogue open, and even by holding out an olive branch,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo asserted.