People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) Gail Teixeira has written to Commissioner of Police Leslie James and the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) to register the party’s concerns over “inciting” and contemptuous statements made by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of Finance Winston Jordan.
Teixeira reminded James that earlier this year he had called on all Guyanese to remain calm and keep the peace following concerns raised in certain sections surrounding the legality of the government after March 21, 2019.
Teixeira reminded James that he underscored the fact that anyone who breaches the law will be held accountable and punished.
She then turned the Commissioner’s attention to the fact that, with the Caribbean Court of Justice’s (CCJ) ruling, “there is therefore no further room for doubt and ambiguity as to what is required by the President and the government at this time.”
Teixeira told the Top Cop that reports in the media emanating from the “President and ministers are cause for concern. These statements in response to the rulings of the highest court of Guyana, the Caribbean Court of Justice, have been unsettling and disturbing.”
She added that the statements and declarations should also be cause “for profound concern by the members of the Guyana Police Force and the entire citizenry.”
In particular, Teixeira referred to a Demerara Waves report dated today, June 19th, 2019, with the headline “Gov’t in defiance mode; “no registration, no election” – Jordan, Nagamootoo”. The article made reference to statements spoken by Minister Jordan and PM Nagamootoo at a public meeting in Bartica on the night of June 18, 2019.
Minister Jordan is quoted as saying, “Notwithstanding the ruling today and notwithstanding all the consequential orders, we will be here until the elections are called and we will be at the tape when the next term begins.” He stated that there would be no elections until there was house-to-house registration and called on supporters on the streets to picket “no registration, no elections.”
In the same report, “The Prime Minister warned that if that if youths are disenfranchised there would be “trouble” if the youth are not registered.”
In another online news report by Daily News Guyana, titled “Jordan tells Barticians, “war break”, call on residents to be ready to take to the streets”, the minister is quoted as saying that war broke when the CCJ handed down its decision on Guyana’s no-confidence motion.
Teixeira further noted that Nagamootto had stated that he “had put back on his olive green shirt as he was back in battle gear” and would not surrender.
The PPP member said, “These statements are inciting and a threat to public order and safety and are in contempt of the Caribbean Court of Justice rulings of June 18, 2019.
“Your statement of March 21, 2019, is more relevant now than then as we have now the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justice, the highest court, and we are all therefore expected to abide by the CCJ rulings that the No-Confidence Motion is valid and elections must be held within the shortest time. I, therefore, call on you as Commissioner and the custodian of public safety and order to carry out your mandate vigorously and to publicly defend, preserve, and protect the rule of law and the Guyana Constitution in our nation.”
Teixeira also wrote the ERC. In her letter to the Commission, The politician cited the same instances she pointed out to the Top Cop.
She told the ERC, “These statements are inciting and a threat to public order and safety and are in contempt of the Caribbean Court of Justice rulings of June 18, 2019. I, therefore, call on the ERC to carry out its constitutional mandate vigorously to promote peace and harmony and to stand publicly in defence of the rule of law and the constitution. I urge you to register with the president and his ministers that the CCJ ruling must be complied with in spirit and intent.”
