FLASHBACK: The first post-elections meeting between party representatives.

Leader of the Opposition David Granger says recent comments from President Donald Ramotar in which he accused the opposition of “criminal behaviour” have left the tripartite talks precariously poised.

Granger was addressing reporters at a news briefing on Wednesday where he drew attention to an article in the Sunday Chronicle in which the president is reported accusing the opposition of pushing a racial line in Linden before elections, of manipulating the elections and negotiating in bad faith.

“Where does this put the tripartite talks? Several important aspects of the tripartite talks are not moving particularly the formulation of the national budget; up to February 15 we have not been able to have a meeting between Dr. Ashni Singh and the team from APNU and AFC to plan the national budget.

So a lot of things are still unsettled but when the president of this country starts to call the opposition charlatans and to announce publicly that he thinks we are behaving in bad faith, when he accuses us of manipulating the elections and when he accuses us of racism this is not the type of language that can build trust and I think that it will have an impact on the tripartite talks,” Granger said.

He added that they will continue to meet and will be asking for an explanation.

“These are serious matters, racism is a crime, manipulating elections is a crime, he’s accusing us of criminal behaviour and he’s wrong, it’s not a matter of just choosing bad words, he has no proof of that.”  

Granger said he will be dispatching an official letter to the president outlining the APNU’s feelings on his statements.

Meanwhile, Granger said another concern raised by the article is the use of the state media to attack opponents, something they will look to address in the parliament.

“The use of the state media as a propaganda weapon of the PPP is going to be brought to an end because we are going to use financial control to make sure that it behaves in a manner that serves the entire Guyanese population and does not serve the interest of Freedom House alone which is what is happening now.

AFC Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, meanwhile, said that he was personally considering asking his party to break off from the tripartite talks. However, he also acknowledged that doing so could add further bitterness to the political climate.

Meanwhile, AFC parliamentarian and former PPP stalwart Moses Nagamootoo dubbed the president’s accusation of election manipulation “a blatant lie.”

"This is an allegation without merit and more so it’s an accusation that will come to haunt them," he declared.

According to Nagamootoo, the PPP needs to provide the evidence to substantiate Ramotar’s claims.