Rohee welcomes some of the advice from outgoing US Embassy official

Rohee was present at Hunt's farewell reception last Friday where the Diplomat called for, among other things, constitutional reform and the abolition of winner takes all politics.

Rohee welcomes some of the advice from outgoing US Embassy official

General Secretary of the opposition People’s Progressive Party, Clement Rohee on Monday said he could not agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by outgoing Deputy Chief of Missions at the US Embassy in Guyana, Bryan Hunt.

Rohee was present at Hunt’s farewell reception last Friday where the Diplomat called for, among other things, constitutional reform and the abolition of winner takes all politics.

Rohee said it has become customary that diplomats would share there impression of their tour of duty in their farewell messages and believes Hunt was doing just that.

The PPP official further added that there were some issues that the PPP could not agree on and signaled disagreements in some areas.

“There are a number of things he said that warrants consideration and there are a number of issues also that we may not see eye to eye with, but this is the normal course of things,” he added.

He explained that several of the areas of disappointment are also the same issues that the country is divided on, for instance the death penalty.

Hunt called for the winner takes all system in Guyana’s political system to be abolished and for more power to be decentralized. The outgoing diplomat also pressed for constitutional reform to tackle many of the issues facing the country.

With respect to the call for an end to winner takes all politics, Rohee said the citizens will have to decide on power sharing and the party will be guided by its constituents.

He said it is encouraging that the discussion is taking place and gaining momentum while reminding of the PPP’s push, under former Leader Cheddi Jagan for an end to this kind of politics.

Rohee cautioned that it shouldn’t be seen as usual for political parties and government’s to disagree with Diplomats. He said as long at the people in the country are divided on certain issues it would be much more difficult for politicians to make headway in making changes. He shied away from labeling Hunt’s comments as interventionist.

Back in 2014, the then PPP government had been heavily criticized when it attacked former US Ambassador Brent Hardt who was at the time pushing for the holding of local government elections among other things.

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