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A man of questionable character and associations Corbin: 'put up or shut up' |
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PPP to Corbin:
'put up or shut up' PPP
General Secretary Donald Ramotar said yesterday the Police are the lawful
authority to handle such matters. "Instead
of supporting the formal process necessary for a transparent
investigation, the Leader of the Opposition launched a vitriolic attack on
the Commissioner of Police.
Mr. Corbin could not be serious about any
investigation," Mr. Ramotar said at a news conference at Freedom
House, adding: "The time has come for Mr. Corbin and the PNC/R to
either put up or shut up." He
said Guyanese are seeing through the political gimmicks of petitioning,
picketing and walking out of Parliament. Consequently the PNC/R picket
lines have attracted small numbers. "The
PNC/R seems least interested in any investigation and more in lynching
Minister Gajraj," Mr. Ramotar stressed. As
regards the revoking of a Canadian visa issued to Mr. Gajraj, the PPP
General Secretary said he would prefer to comment after hearing what the
Canadian High Commissioner had to say on the matter. In addition, Mr.
Ramotar said the minister is willing to give up his privacy in order for
the Canadian High Commission to make public the reasons for revoking his
visa. Meanwhile,
the PPP says it would like to see long overdue Local Government Elections
held this year because it feels that these elections are needed to renew
grass root democracy and allow for greater self-government at the
community level. Mr.
Ramotar said his party is hoping that all concerned will appreciate the
point and work towards holding these elections in the nearest possible
time. Mr.
Ramotar accused the PNC/R of putting obstacles to delay the holding of
these elections. "We
cannot, also, help but notice that the main opposition party seems intent
on putting all kinds of obstacles in facing these polls. If they are
sincere in their talk of democracy then they should help the process
instead of their present role as a hindrance. Let us have the Local
Government Elections at the earliest opportunity," Mr. Ramotar
declared. Responding
to a question on the situation regarding agreement on the electoral system
for local government, Mr. Ramotar said his party is of the view that the
system that was used for the national elections should be retained, where
allocations for geographical areas are made and the rest of seats decided
upon by Proportional Representation (PR), but this been objected to by the
PNC/R. On
the issue of the reduced number of seats in mini-buses, Mr. Ramotar said
his party welcomes the decision put on hold the enforcement of the
existing traffic law - the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act 21:01, which
was enacted since the 1960s when mini-buses were not plying the roads. According
to Mr. Ramotar, the PPP feels the law should be examined to see if it
needs amended to take into consideration the type of vehicles which
dominate the transportation system. However,
the General Secretary noted that his party is concerned for the safety and
comfort of the traveling public, and those mini-buses that are modified to
ad more seats than they have been designed for should resort to their
original positions. Mr.
Ramotar also said his party is rejecting attempts by uninformed persons in
some media houses commenting on its internal operations. According
to the General Secretary several of these persons have never been members
of the party and therefore have no knowledge of how the party mechanism
functions. He
also accused one media house choosing to consult one Anan Boodram as an
expert on the PPP, declaring: "Let me inform the public that Mr.
Boodram was never elected to the Leadership of the PPP." He added that his party rejects any attempts by certain elements to create confusion and misunderstanding.
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