‘Not our statement’

… four WGEC commissioners disassociate themselves from statement on Mottley

FOUR commissioners of the Women and Gender Equality Commission have distanced them selves from a statement purportedly issued by that body condemning attacks on former chairman of Caricom, Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

“We wish to refer to an article published in the June 29, 2020 issue of the Stabroek News under the captioned “Women and Gender Equality Commission condemns attacks against Mottley” We wish to let it be know that the WGEC comprise Commissioners representing various organisations within Guyana and the issuance of this statement was definitely not a Commission’s decision since we were not consulted at any time,” the commissioners Karen VanSluytman-Corbin, Guyana Trade Union Congress/WAC; Nicole Cole, Culture/Ethnic; Ernestine Barker-Logan, Regional Women’s Affairs Committee; and Debra Henry of Professional Women, said in a terse statement.

The statement said” “For many Guyanese and Caribbean women and men- Mia Mottley is an exemplary Caribbean leader. She is deserving of our respect:’  It added that it was at the invitation of both President David Granger and opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo that CARICOM, led by Mottley in her capacity as its Chairperson, offered its assistance in the form of an Independent High-Level Team to observe the Recount process. The agreement between the two political leaders was cemented in an Aide Memoire. Both the president and opposition leader agreed to abide by credible and transparent results of the Recount process.”

Whether one agrees or disagrees with the CARICOM Observer Report on the Guyana Elections and the Recount process, there is no need what soever for the insults being levelled against Mia Mottley, who is standing by tbt Report,” the commission noted. Mottley bad come under fire for alleged prejudicial statements about Guyana’s elections and also bad attacked the Chief Elections Officer for his report that tallied valid votes. “We can agree or disagree with the Elections results in Guyana which are always contentious – the 2020 Elections are particularly so.

However, the leaders of both major parties agreed to have CARICOM here to do a specific job, which they did,” the commission said. “Let us be civil to each other in Guyana -even in contentions times and let us be civil to our Caribbean Community leaders and peoples even in times of contention between us.”

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_e-paper_7-5-2020