Opposition party does not respect President Granger – Jagdeo

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov. 8, CMC – Leader of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo has declared that the party does not respect President David Granger.
“We do respect the institution of the presidency but not the person who holds that office now,” said Jagdeo during a news conference on Wednesday.
The opposition leader made reference to Granger’s description of PPP legislators as “vulgarians” as they protested as he addressed Parliament last week.
Jagdeo –  himself a former president,said presidential respect has to be earned and not taken for granted, stating that Granger “loves” pomp,protocol and ceremony “but doesn’t like scrutiny”. “We will treat him with respect once he complies with the our constitution and laws,” he said.
Meanwhile, House Speaker, Dr. Barton Scotland is yet to comment on the  stance taken by the opposition during the recent sitting.
Jagdeo suggested that the Speaker might have approved of the placard bearing in the House because he did not intervene or identify any breach of the standing order.
“The speaker might have agreed with our position because I did not see the Speaker intervene and  tell us that we were breaking the standing orders,” he said, adding that the PPP lawmakers were “in no mood” to be lectured by the Speaker.
Jagdeo listed several decisions by the ruling coalition in and out office that amount to vulgarities and disrespect for the presidency.
They include storming of the Office of the Presidency by a group of supporters, disruption of his delivery of a speech from Parliament Building’s balcony and Granger’s abandoning of his own criteria for selecting a GECOM Chairman.
“I can go on now and list the vulgarities in the country…one hundred times more vulgar than the PPP holding up a few placards in the Parliament,” he said.