The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Guyana, Dr. Fernando Pontz Cantó will end his three-year tour of duty to Guyana this week. Dr. Cantó came to Guyana in 2019 and was accredited to serve as the EU Ambassador under the APNUAFC Government by Former President His Excellency David Granger.
Ahead of his departure the Ambassador sat down with a PPP Government aligned news outlet, offering advice for the government and the Opposition. During the approximately thirty-minute-long interview, Dr. Cantó expressed his concerns and hopes for Guyana going forward.
One of the major concerns expressed by the Ambassador is the threat posed by growing inequality and corruption in the context of Guyana being an oil-producing state. “A major challenge the government faces is not to leave anybody behind in this time of near prosperity because what has happened in many countries like Guyana that has been blessed with natural resources is that there has been a widening of the social and economic gap between the haves and the have not,”- the Ambassador noted.
He listed corruption as another concern of his and the need for a more “structured” Opposition to hold the Government accountable. The Ambassador believes that the government must become more inclusive in the management of the country’s resources so that all Guyanese can develop.
Only recently the United States government called on the Ali-led PPP installed regime to be more inclusive and transparent with the Guyanese people. The call was made by the US Secretary of State during Ali’s week-long meeting with State Department officials and other US government officials in Washington last July.
Opposition leader Aubrey Norton only recently had cause to state, “I want to reassure everyone; once there is inclusiveness and we are getting what we deserve then the basis will be created for cordial relationship with the government but, as it stands, we are not satisfied we are there, ” Norton told residents of New Amsterdam on Emancipation Day.
Since being installed into Government in August of 2020, the PPP regime has been on a campaign of bullyism, domination and control, according to the Opposition Leader.
This has resulted in more and more hardship for Guyanese as prices for basic food items continue to skyrocket. Sugar which was $80 per pound under APNU+AFC, is now $200 per pound in some supermarkets. A packet of milk powder, a bottle of oil and the price of cooking gas have all doubled under the present economic mismanagement of the economy by the installed regime, Norton argues.
In an invited comment one APNUAFC member told us that the “Structure” of the Opposition is presently threatened by the Ali Government’s unilateral and unconstitutional suspension of eight opposition parliamentarians using its one-seat majority in parliament. The suspension, which has been described as an economic and political sanction on the Opposition Parliamentarians and the close to 60,000 voters they represent, should be seen in the context of the Government’s rampant efforts at railroading constitutional democracy in Guyana, she said.
The Ambassador also stressed the importance of one man, one vote which can only be achieved with a clean voters list. The EU observer group for the 2020 elections had cited the need for a clean voters list. Those calls by nearly all the election observer missions have since been rejected by second Vice president Bharrat Jagdeo who declared on Friday that the Government will not be involved in any process to remove the names of persons from the current List of Electors since it believes such a move is unconstitutional. Opposition leader Aubrey Norton had contended that the list is bloated and the number of persons on the list is not a true reflection of Guyana’s population. There are presently over 660,000 names on the present voters list out of a population of approximately 750,000 persons.
A new European Union Ambassador is expected in Guyana by the 1st of September 2022.
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