The parliamentary opposition is not satisfied with the level of the dialogue with the government. However, the latter sees the post-2006 elections period as signalling an improved political climate and a maturing of the political process in Guyana.
Asked if one year after the 2006 general elections they were satisfied with the political dialogue, members of parliament from the PNCR, AFC and GAP/ROAR gave negative responses and the PPP/C a positive one. The dialogue with the joint opposition, which should have been occurring within an enhanced framework as outlined by President Bharrat Jagdeo at the opening of the Ninth Parliament in 2006, has been limited to a single meeting in November last year. Members of the opposition said meetings should be held once every three months.
‘Extremely
disappointing’
For AFC Leader Raphael Trotman the political dialogue over the past year has been “extremely disappointing” because it was virtually non-existent. He said that at the November 10, 2006 meeting they had identified at least ten issues on which they would work together.
The Office of the President had undertaken to write a position paper after which they would meet to work out an agenda to tackle the issues. The task of ensuring that the position paper was done was given to Presidential Adviser on Governance, Gail Teixeira, he said.
According to Trotman, the AFC was never informed about further developments but it noted that some of the issues highlighted were dealt with. “It appears as though the appointment of a Chancellor of the Judiciary, some security issues and the recall of parliamentarians seemed to have occupied the attention of the President and Leader of Opposition,” he said adding, “the track record of the dialogue between the two [the President and Corbin] is characterised by failure and gridlock. Look at the issue of the judiciary
