President Ali says Mr. Granger still invited to quarterly meetings

His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has again extended an olive branch to former President Mr. David Granger to join discussions on areas that will see the country benefitting. President Ali reissued this invitation to the former President on the sidelines of an event on Thursday at State House.

Mr. Granger was invited to the first engagement with former Presidents at State House on Tuesday, but declined. Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, Mr. Donald Ramotar and Mr. Samuel Hinds attended the meeting.

President Ali said the engagement “was a free-flowing discussion and we have come up with thematic areas in which the discussions will continue and we have set aside once every quarter for a meeting of this nature to not only carry forward the discussions but to build on those discussions and of course, former President Granger is invited at any point.”

The first meeting discussed border security, sovereignty, the environment, including climate change, oil and gas with a focus on local content, enhancing national security and constitutional reform. It also discussed electoral reform, national unity with a focus of reforming the Racial Hostility Act and finding ways to ensure good governance.

However, President Ali said the agenda is not fixed and Mr. Granger can bring his ideas to the table at the next meeting.

He said Mr. Granger “can come in and at the next meeting. The invitation is opened to him and, of course, if he has any additional areas of interest, he is more than welcomed to raise them.”

President Ali’s engagement with the former Presidents is a commitment made in the PPP/C manifesto to foster inclusionary governance and chart a way forward to build a better Guyana.