FIND THE LATEST NEWS UPDATED EVERY DAY AT CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM
Vol. 30, Issue 10 QUEENS/LONG ISLAND/BRONX/MANHATTAN March 8–14, 2019
By Bert Wilkinson
It was billed as the most
important and defining
moment of the year so far but a
summit meeting between Guyana’s
two most important political
figures Wednesday failed
to set an emergency date for
general elections in the wake
of the Dec. 21 collapse of government.
President David Granger
emerged from a meeting with
Opposition Leader and former
President Bharrat Jagdeo and
said that naming a date for
elections this year was completely
in the hands of the
Guyana Elections Commission
and not under the pervue of
authorities. The body has said
it needs about five months to be
properly organized and ready,
to cleanse an allegedly padded
voters scroll and to train key
staff taking a realistic day to
around August at the least.
The controversy over an
emergency date for elections
has it roots in a Dec. 21 no confidence
vote in parliament when
government lawmaker Charrandass
Persaud surprisingly
voted with the main opposition
People’s Progressive Party
to erase the administration’s
wafer-thin one-seat majority
and collapse the administration
of Mr. Granger with more
than a year and a half left in its
five-year term.
Saying he was unhappy with
the style and state of governance,
Persaud voted to bring
down the government and fled
to Canada hours after. Authorities
accused him of taking a
US$1 million bribe, allegedly
organized by the opposition.
Anxious to capitalize on
the parliamentary victory,
Jagdeo has been pushing officials
to invoke constitutional
edicts requiring elections in
90 days but a calm and deliberate
Granger indicated that no
date had been reached from
Wednesday’s session, the second
since the assembly vote.
Both sides have not ruled out
meeting again and Granger
brushed aside claims by Jagdeo
that the country will plunge
into a constitutional crisis after
the 90-day period expires in the
third week of this month.
“There is no crisis,” Granger
It was total “Tribal Instinct” on display during Trinidad’s carnival. See story on Page
37. Photo by Azad Ali
Clarke to introduce Dream, Promise Act
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn Congresswoman
Yvette D. Clarke, chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus’s
(CBC) Immigration Task Force,
has said she will join Reps.
Lucille Roybal-Allard (California)
and Nydia M. Velázquez
(New York) in introducing the
Dream and Promise Act (HR
6) next week.
Clarke, who represents the
Ninth Congressional District
in Brooklyn, told Caribbean
Life that the bill will include a
path to citizenship for Dreamers,
undocumented immigrants
brought to the US as
children, as well as for people
covered by Temporary Protected
Status (TPS), such as over
50,000 Haitian nationals, and
Deferred Enforced Departure
(DED).
The bill builds upon last
Congress’s DREAM Act, American
Promise Act and Clarke’s
ASPIRE TPS Act.
Clarke said the bill will be
re-introduced on March 12,
with new language.
According to Roll Call, a
publication on Capitol Hill,
advocates are also likely to
attend the bill’s rollout, “as
they’ve done for the introduction
of House Democrats’
other top priority bills this
Congress.”
“The reintroduction of the
Dream Act has taken longer
than other measures simply
reintroduced from the previous
Congress because it will
include changes from prior
versions,” it said.
Among those changes are
the inclusion of protections
for TPS and DED recipients.
The TPS and DED programs
have protected undocumented
refugees from deportation.
“Trump tried to terminate
Continued on Page 20 Continued on Page 20
Carnival is color
NO DATE
SET FOR
VOTING
Guyanese leaders fail to
agree on election timetable
/CARIBBEANLIFENEWS.COM