New “youth focused” political party to contest 2020 elections

A new political party, promoting the voice of young people, plans to contest the upcoming General and Regional Elections in 2020.

The United Movement Alliance (UMA) was founded in December 2016 by an educator and a Hindu priest with the intention of politically motivating youths to vote along the lines of policies and not party politics.

The group hopes to run for the 2020 elections with the goal of capturing 5 – 6 seats in the National Assembly in order to create a balance between to the two political parties.

22 – year – old Rodley Mathoo

The founders are 22 – year – old Rodley Mathoo, who is a holder an Undergraduate Degree in Sociology from the University of Guyana and a teacher at a private institution in Georgetown, and 25 – year – old Ubraj Narine, who is a graduate Hindu priest from the International Vedanta University and is currently a priest at several temples across the country.

UMA wants to put an end in the “winner takes all” politics in Guyana and to have youths properly represented as catered for in national policies.

“No two parties should control the National Assembly. Guyanese need more representation and we plan to give them that. Youths make up more than half the voters’ population and therefore a lot of policies should be formulated to benefit them. That has not been the case with the previous or the current administrations,” Mathoo told News Room during an interview.

Mathoo encouraged people to join the movement as it provides “a voice for the voiceless and help to the helpless”.

“For far too long we had politicians who had not the interest of the people at heart. It is time that Guyana has politicians who are truly patriotic and has Guyana’s best interest at heart,” he stated.

In the lead up to the next elections, UMA plans to hold several public meetings across the country in every region to mobilise persons.

“Our focus at these meetings will be to share our ideas about how to move Guyana forward economically and socially, with heavy focus being placed on the role of youths in the political landscape of Guyana,” Mathoo said.

Its first meeting will be held at the Kalyan Mall on Lamaha Street, between Camp and Waterloo Streets, on June 4, from 13:00hrs.

wasnt the afc supposed to do what they trying to do

Dear Editor
LIKE every other reasonable-minded Guyanese but moreso, because I played a role in assembling both lists of persons which the Opposition Leader submitted to the President for the appointment of a Chairman of GECOM, I am disappointed by the President’s rejection of these lists.
I continue to maintain that the President has managed to make, what was, historically, a very smooth and straightforward exercise, one that is now complicated and politically acrimonious. I also maintain and with due respect, that the President cannot seriously boast a better understanding of the Carter Formula and its constitutionalisation expressed in Article 161 (2) than Mr. Hugh Desmond Hoyte S.C. This is so because Mr. Hoyte participated in the coinage of the Carter Formula and was an eminent Senior Counsel and was therefore schooled in the interpretation of a constitution. Mr. Hoyte participated four times in the process of compiling names and submitting them to different presidents of the PPP Administration with seamless ease and without any controversy whatsoever. Those who are now contaminating the President’s mind with absurd legal advice in relation to the interpretation of Article 162 were around at that time, but would have dared not tried that with Mr. Hoyte. He would have simply not tolerated it because he knew better.
Unfortunately, what we now have is a bizarre interpretation of Article 162 which distorts both the letter and the spirit of the Article. For example, the President tells us that Article 161 (2):
(1) accords priority in relation to persons who are judges, former judges and persons qualified to be judges over and above “any other fit and proper person” when the Constitution does no such thing;
(2) that these persons must not be religious leaders or part of any faith-based organisation; again the Constitution does not so discriminate;
(3) that the person must not be an activist in areas such as human rights, gender discrimination etc; again Article 161 (2) contains no such exclusion;
(4) that all six persons must be found acceptable before the President chooses one; in other words, if five are and one is not, then the entire list becomes unacceptable and therefore, the President refuses to choose one from the five, though he finds them acceptable.
It is this erroneous and warped interpretation which has misled the President in rejecting the two lists submitted. Unless this abysmal error is corrected, this cyclical exercise of submission and rejection of lists may become never-ending. I must reiterate that while Article 161 (2) resides with the President a discretion in so far as the list must find his acceptance, this discretion cannot be capriciously and whimsically exercised. It must be exercised reasonably and the President is obliged to take into account only relevant considerations and discount from his mind, irrelevant considerations.
The methodology which the Leader of the Opposition has used in compiling these two lists proves that the President’s exercise of his discretion does not accord with the rest of the society. In my view, that is a strong indicia that the President is wrong. The Leader of the Opposition did not compile these lists by himself. Rather, these names were generated from a wide consultative exercise involving the major stakeholder organisations in this country. These organisations consulted with their respective constituencies and produced these names. These constituents number tens of thousands of people. It is simply illogical to argue that all of these people are wrong and the President and his legal advisors are right. Finally, finding another six names in compliance with the President’s fallacious construction of Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, would now become near impossible. The pool to draw from has become significantly narrower. More importantly, more persons would become even more reluctant to offer their names for the fear of the public damage and humiliation to their professional reputations, character and image by the President’s cavalier rejection of their names. In the circumstances, the nation has no alternative but to hope that the proposed engagement between the President and the Leader of the Opposition would result in the President’s resiling from his misinterpretation of Article 161 (2). If not, the consequences to this nation may be dire, for which the President will have to accept responsibility.
Regards
Anil Nandlall