GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Mat 16 2015 – David Arthur Granger has officially taken the oath of office and will serve as the 8th Executive President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana after the multi-racial APNU+AFC coalition party he led stormed to victory at the May 11 polls.
The 69-year-old Retired Brigadier in the Guyana Defence Force took the solemn oath at an early afternoon ceremony held at Parliament Building in Georgetown on Saturday in the presence of members of the diplomatic core, political leaders and other dignitaries, as well as a large crowd of supporters that spilled into nearby streets.
Born in Georgetown, Granger attended Queen’s College like former Presidents; Forbes Burnham, Cheddi Jagan and Samuel Hinds and scholars; Walter Rodney and Rupert Roopnaraine. After leaving Queen’s College, where he was a member of the Queen’s College Cadet Corps, Brigadier Granger joined the GDF as an officer cadet in 1965, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1966. He received his professional military training at the Army Command and Staff College in Nigeria; the Jungle Warfare Instruction Centre in Brazil; and the School of Infantry and the Mons Officer Cadet School, respectively, in the United Kingdom. The Historian also graduated as a Valedictorian from the University of Guyana with a clean sweep of several accolades from the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Out of the eight persons to serve as President of Guyana, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPPC) has fielded five.
The 2015 election was Granger’s second attempt at being President having lost to his competitor Donald Ramotar of the PPP/C in the 2011 polls.
This time around however, he enlisted the aid of Moses Versammy Nagamootoo who was his running mate and will be Guyana’s next Prime Minister. The APNU together with Nagamootooo’s AFC party forged a strong alliance that rapidly picked up momentum as the country moved closer to elections day.
Since Guyana’s 1966 independence, the citizenry has been racially polarized- something that tends to become more evident when there is an election, but together the two campaigned across the length and breadth of the country pleading with the electorate to vote on issues and not race.
The Guyanese electorate responded and awarded the coalition with 206, 817 votes while the PPP managed 201,457 – a slim victory but an indication of the will of the Guyanese people.
Granger being sworn in as President is primarily significant since it ends the 23-year rule of the PPP/C administration which has been plagued with allegations of rampant corruption, mismanagement of the economy and lack of transparency and accountability.
The coalition has produced a 100 day plan that entails the review of taxes, increase of salaries and old-age pension, an anti-corruption plan,
liberalization of the Telecommunication and ICT sectors, several task forces on crime and security, and benefits for Guyana’s small miners.
Granger will now be tasked with swearing in Nagamootoo, and establishing the new government. He has pledged to leave the door open to members of the PPP/C and other stakeholders in the push to form a government of national unity. (News Now GY)
