Appeal to President Granger to concede defeat

Dear Editor,

I write to appeal to President Granger to reconsider the obstinate position he has taken over the March 2 election. It is clear from the original count and recount that he lost. There is no way to ‘win’ this election by changing numbers like in 2015 when a reported defeat of 2200 voters was converted into a victory of 4500 votes. The President must concede to allow the country to exhale from the standstill of the last four months.

The President’s action is contrary to the teachings of the bible and to normal political or human behaviour. The church teaches we must not lust for power and we must love nation, and family before self. All of the President’s actions betray those principles. And it is being done for a pointless ideology of putting one group of people against another. The holy book tells us that we need to live together regardless of our racial background – and that government must not support one race against the other. The ideology of racial exclusion is contrary to the lord’s teachings and the holy books.

The President has defied the appeal of his family to concede defeat. This has led to a nasty attack against his own son-in-law, Dominic Gaskin, a man of integrity and democratic principle who has condemned the Mingo and Lowenfield fraud. The President’s daughter must be distressed that her husband is attacked and how people view her father.
Mr. President, you have completed three scores plus 10 and more. The remainder of your life should be lived for good purpose to humanity and in following the democratic practices, which is akin to serving God.

There must be an end to the election process. Various methods have only delayed the inevitable. President Granger, you cannot continue to defy the will of voters or of God. You must concede that you lost fairly and squarely. If you try to stay on defying the international community, the country will not function and we will all suffer like the 1980s. There will be tough sanctions beginning with the US that is compiling a list to cancel visas and confiscate money. Guyana’s economy is too small and dependent on other nations and therefore cannot survive in isolation. Besides, we don’t wish to live like North Korea that is dependent on China for survival. The only option is to concede defeat and allow democracy to flourish.

A fair demand from the incoming administration would be an undertaking to immediately look at constitutional reform to end the winner takes all doctrine to allow for some kind of shared governance.

Yours truly,
Bro. Joshua Emmanuel