GUYANA: RESPONSES TO DEMARCHE ON GOVERNANCE REFORMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L GEORGETOWN 000710 SIPDIS SIPDIS WHA/CAR WHA/OAS S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM OAS GY UK CA SUBJECT: GUYANA: RESPONSES TO DEMARCHE ON GOVERNANCE REFORMS REF: A. STATE 114561 ¶B. GEORGETOWN 667 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael D. Thomas For Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: US, UK, Canada and EU chiefs of mission delivered demarche on governance reforms to President Jagdeo July 13, Opposition Leader Robert Corbin July 14, the upstart Alliance For Change (AFC) July 17, and the ruling People's Progressive Party (PPP) July 18. Jagdeo generally agreed with the principles in the demarche but would not be drawn into committing to a specific timeline. Corbin accepted the message on governance reform in a distracted manner, but is much more concerned with the mechanics of impending elections. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- Jagdeo Receptive, But Non-Committal on Reform Timing -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Chiefs of mission from the US, UK, Canada and EU (ABCE Group) delivered demarche on governance reforms to President Jagdeo July 13. Jagdeo appeared engaged as Canada High Commissioner read demarche points, as if familiar with the content of the message and generally in agreement. Jagdeo responded that the ABCE Group would see "much of what you requested in the PPP manifesto after the election date is set". He agreed with the principles that the National Assembly must be strengthened to become the primary forum for political discussion and that electoral system must be fixed. However, Jagdeo left the impression of not fully appreciating how seriously donors take this issue of reform. ¶3. (C) Despite ABCE Group's prodding, Jagdeo would not be drawn into a specific timeline for implementing the reforms. Rather, he said the terms of Guyana's multilateral loans dictated the pace of governance reforms and that he wants constitutional reform process to resume before year-end. Jagdeo blamed the breakdown in the reform process on the main opposition People's National Congress (PNC) party, claiming that his executive had fixed everything it could unilaterally. -------------- -------------- Corbin Accepts Demarche, More Concerned with Voters List -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) ABCE Group delivered demarche to opposition leader Robert Corbin of the PNC and Working People's Alliance (WPA) co-leader Rupert Roopnarine July 14. (Note: The PNC and WPA have cooperated in recent months as the One Guyana Platform.) Corbin broadly accepted the demarche's message -- calling the reforms "easy" -- and remains focused instead on his "lack of confidence" in the election process. He and Roopnarine lamented in forceful yet vague and sometime contradictory terms the purported failure of the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) to carry out its obligations. They struggled to respond to UK High Commissioner's query as to what GECOM actions in the near-term would satisfy the One Guyana Platform. They eventually named as two conditions "some sort of verification" of the voters list and applying the results of the EOJ exercise (which GECOM says it has done). (Note: The EOJ exercise refers to the cross-matching of registered voters' fingerprints undertaken by the Electoral Office of Jamaica that revealed 947 certain duplicates and 4,427 possible duplicates out of a total cohort of over half a million fingerprint scans.) But they were far more interested in discussing the potential consequences of holding elections by late August/early September given their doubts about GECOM's preparedness. Roopnarine warned the ABCE Group not to discount the "spontaneous rage of disenfranchised voters." -------------- -------------- AFC Believes in Reforms, Preoccupied with Campaign -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) ABCE Group delivered demarche to AFC co-leaders Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan July 17. As expected, they concur with the message. Reforming governance in Guyana is part of their mantra. They want to sever the obligation for MPs to vote with their party by rote rather than with their conscience. But rather than dwell on the reforms issue, the AFC leaders were eager to discuss the challenges they face in election preparations. For example, the state-run radio monopoly has stopped airing paid AFC political advertisements, on the grounds that the campaign period has not officially begun. -------------- PPP Also Supportive of Demarche Message -------------- ¶6. (C) ABCE Group delivered demarche to PPP General Secretary Donald Ramotar July 18. He, too, agreed with the points on governance reform. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) Guyana's political leaders do not view the content of the governance reform demarche as controversial. They broadly agree that revitalization of the reform process is essential to Guyana's future. However, in trying to pin the blame for past failure on each other the political parties continue to put the reform process at risk. Post, together with UK, Canada, and EU representatives will use every possible opportunity to remind Jagdeo and political party leaders to commit to a specific timetable for implementing specific reforms. The ABCE Group in Georgetown is of one mind that continued flow of governance assistance funding to Guyana should be conditioned on resumption of a meaningful reform process, with timelines and benchmarks, immediately after elections. Otherwise Guyana will continue to find itself in the same predicament every election cycle. END COMMENT. THOMAS