Caribbean & Central America - January 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

*** GUYANA WAITS ON. Guyana’s Prime Minister Donald Ramotar prorogued (suspended) parliament on 10 November, and he was widely expected to announce the date of the general election in his New Year’s address.  But this has not happened, and criticism has been mounting, not least from the United Kingdom, about the end to the uncertainty.

On 12 January, the UK’s high commissioner in Georgetown, Andrew Ayre, said: “There is discussion about ‘countries of concern’ in the Commonwealth every few months…Guyana is moving into the category of concern for the Commonwealth.”  The general secretary of the ruling Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Clement Rohee, responded tartly, saying: “This country has had its independence from Britain since 1966; we don’t have to listen to what Britain says.”

Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodriguez-Birkett added: “President Ramotar did not commit an illegality.  He acted in keeping with the constitution and has already set a date for election which will be announced shortly.”

The cause of the problem is that in November 2011, the PPP/C won its fifth consecutive election, but only partially.  Its 48.6% of the vote was sufficient to secure the presidency, and hence to form the government, but it only secured the PPP/C 32 seats in the 65-seat National Assembly.  The opposition alliance – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – gained 33 seats, with the People’s National Congress (PNC) winning 26 and the Alliance for Change (AFC) winning seven. This was the first time that the PPP/C had lost its parliamentary majority in 19 years.  The consequence was that important legislation such as the Anti Money Laundering and Countering of the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) has been held up in parliament.

Under the constitution, the president can prorogue parliament for six months, so theoretically Ramotar could use this six months to negotiate a new modus Vivendi with the opposition, recall parliament, and soldier on until the end of his five-year term in November 2016.  At the moment, however, everything points to an early election.

In his New Year’s address, Ramotar said that what was needed was a “clear mandate”.  He said: “A clear mandate will be needed.  Given political conditions, I anticipate that my Guyanese brothers and sisters will be called upon in the near future to exercise the choice that will be so critical to determining the path our country will follow in years to come…With an opposition that has displayed a remarkable anti-development tendency it is important that we regain the majority in the National Assembly to ensure continued social and economic progress.”

*** TAIWAN COMES TO GRENADA’S AID. During the first week of January, it was announced that Taiwan and Grenada had reached agreement to restructure Grenada’s US$36.6m debt to the Export-Import Bank of Taiwan.  The agreement reduces the principal on the loan by 50%, with the reduced balance repayable over 15 years after a grace period of three and a half years.  The interest rate is to be 7%.

*** FOURTH TERM FOR DOMINICA’S SKERRIT. On 8 December, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit won a fourth consecutive term for his Dominica Labour Party (DLP) and a third term for his premiership.  The DLP won 15 of the 21 seats, with the United Workers Party (UWP) picking up six seats.  The UWP result was disappointing for its leader Lennox Linton, but it did double the miserly score of just three seats that it secured in the 2009 election.  Linton was hardly gracious in defeat, saying that the election had been won by intimidation and bribery.