President expresses confidence in Independents

PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards yesterday expressed his confidence in all nine Independent Senators, including those who did not support his nomination for the Presidency. President Richards also assured the senators that he would not try to influence how they operate in the Upper House.

When Richards was nominated last month, three Independent Senators voted for Opposition United National Congress (UNC) candidate Ganace Ramdial in the secret ballot. Following a courtesy call on Richards at President’s House yesterday,  Leader of the Independent Senators, Dr Eastlyn McKenzie was asked whether this came up during their discussions with His Excellency. “He did not bring that up at all. We just expressed our happiness that he is now the President,” she replied.

Asked about the most significant thing which Richards told them, McKenzie said: “His confidence in our ability, our integrity and our willingness to work hard and our vision for the country as one we’d like to see develop as one people together.” Her colleague, Professor Ken Ramchand added: “He also made it clear that he was not going to try to tell us what to say or dominate us in any way. He used the word. He wouldn’t even try to influence us. He would respect our independence and in fact encouraged it.”