Leader of the main Parliamentary Opposition, Joseph Harmon is up in arms over comments made by the Vice President (VP) of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, about there being no ‘honest’ interlocutor within the Coalition to advance dialogue with the government.
Jagdeo, during a recent interview with the National Communications Network (NCN) earlier this month said: “Notwithstanding the fact that all efforts made have failed, we still have to reach out to have that done. The problem now is that we do not have an honest interlocutor on the other side.”
The VP further stated, “At this point in time, I cannot see a single individual who can stand up and say I speak for the collective and we are going to make some commitments here about working together and that person has the ability to defend, and have the party defend those commitments.”
But Harmon, today, summed up Jagdeo’s comments as “utter garbage”.
“This is a shameless and barefaced lie, from a relic of the past…Jagdeo has no moral authority to speak about honesty…Secondly, the APNU+AFC represents at least 50 percent of the population in a highly disputed elections, and therefore, whether he sees good people or not in the Opposition, is of no consequence,” the former State Minister said.
Harmon contended that President Irfaan Ali and his VP are sending mixed signals. He noted that it was Ali, who said that there will be no dialogue with the opposition unless his regime is recognized as a legitimate one.
“I can categorically state that there was no effort to engage with the Opposition since the regime was installed on the 2nd of August 2020. The nation will recall that [President] Irfaan Ali, in his statement, said that he will meet with the Opposition until the [elections] petition is withdrawn, and that his party is acknowledged as the legitimate government. So, what is Jagdeo talking about now about trying to engage, when in fact, Irfaan Ali has made it clear that they’ll be no engagement?”
Harmon said that the PPP/C is hiding in their “cocoon and seeking to conduct the nation’s business in darkness” by not having dialogue with the main Parliamentary Opposition.
The LOO said that it is because of the government’s refusal to meet, that the Opposition has resorted to raise matters at the level of the National Assembly in the form of motions.
