The PPP remains open to dialogue with the political opposition, according to party General Secretary Donald Ramotar, who says parliamentary engagement is yielding more cooperation.
“The PPP is always ready to talk,” Ramotar told Stabroek News in an interview last week, “It wouldn’t do any harm; it’s always good if we can talk.” He disagreed with the assertion that there is no significant development in political cooperation between the PPP/C and the parliamentary opposition parties, the PNCR-1G, the AFC and GAP-ROAR, saying that there are excellent relations between government and opposition MPs in the National Assembly. Further, he suggested that a formal dialogue between the parties has not been taking place because of the greater involvement in the parliament, particularly in the work of the select and standing committees. In addition to parliamentary cooperation, he noted that the President Bharrat Jagdeo continues to consult with Opposition Leader Robert Corbin on important issues, whenever he has to be consulted.
After the failure of successive engagements with the opposition, President Jagdeo has indicated his preference for the National Assembly to be the forum for constructive dialogue/inclusive governance. But there appear to be differing perspectives on whether it is yielding tangible results.
GAP-ROAR MP Everall Franklin laments that it is only in cases of national emergencies that there is an attempt to secure a common approach. “Then we go back to how we were before,” he said, adding, “The political climate is certainly one that needs to be enhanced.”
Franklin conceded that the parties are working together at the parliamentary committee level and he characterised it as being “mostly non-contentious” partnerships. At the same time, he argues that there needs to be dialogue at various levels. “It has been disheartening that we only get together in cases of national emergency and the fact that we are not talking is responsible for these emergencies and dialogue is the only way to head them off,” he said.
He, however, alluded to “the bigger picture,” explaining that even within the larger parties there appears to be conflict, making it easy to appreciate why talks across party lines are not on the agenda.
Meanwhile, Ramotar explained that there continues to be a “high degree of agreement” during the select committee activities. He did, however, admit that while the parties aim for consensus, there are times when they fall short. “Sometimes when we don’t get consensus… we have to use the majoritarian principle,” he said, explaining, “We have to find some ways to settle issues and any democratic society recognises that.” He added that there have been very few cases where the “majoritarian principle” has been applied.
Ramotar also felt that the opposition parties have not given enough credit to the parliamentary cooperation, especially their involvement in working out many issues.
Recently, the opposition parties have adopted a policy of selective participation in the work of the National Assembly, as part of the lobby for an extensive international investigation of human rights violations here as well as the activities of convicted drug kingpin Roger Khan.
Additionally, the parties have also withdrawn participation from the work of the select committee fine-tuning local government reform legislation, saying that the government has refused to make concessions to give life to reforms. Corbin has called the committee a “sham,” stating that the participation of opposition members in its work made no difference since the government is determined to have its way. AFC MP David Patterson has accused the government of railroading the legislation.
Ramotar, who is a member of the committee looking at the local government laws, cast doubt on whether the withdrawal of participation by the opposition is justifiable. He revealed that the committee is completing its work without the participation of the opposition. Asked to justify continuing without the input of the opposition, he said the opposition already had significant input at the level of the Local Government Task Force. He noted that the opposition’s quarrel is the sequence in which the committee is dealing with the legislation, which the government insisted be dealt with in the order it was tabled. “I don’t see that as a big issue,” Ramotar said. “We are faithful to the agreements that have already been reached at the level of the Task Force that was set up and I don’t think the opposition could really justify not participating,” he added, emphasising that the committee has been “extremely faithful” to the prior agreements.
The opposition parties, however, criticised the termination of the work of the Task Force, saying it was arbitrary and that all the reforms were not completed. “Yes but all that has been completed, we have been faithful to that,” Ramotar responded when asked about the criticism, saying too that “We have not put any impediment in their way to prevent them from participating in the select committee.” According to him, there is always room for compromise once the parties are talking.
Ramotar was critical of the opposition for resisting the holding of local government polls immediately after the 2006 general elections, saying that the parties were then emphasising the need for a new national house-to-house to registration, rather than the reforms of the system that have become their recent focus. “That’s the dilemma we have dealing with the opposition,” he said, arguing that experience during the 1997 and 2001 elections has shown that the opposition make an issue of every detail. “We wanted to have local government elections a long time ago,” he reiterated, saying that there is need for a renewal of local democracy on the ground. “It is a pity it has taken so long, but there is definite need for renewal of democracy,” he explained. Ramotar said too that the government’s actions show that it has been trying to build consensus.
Asked whether the PPP has any concerns about poll preparations, Ramotar noted that there have been “a lot of hiccups” and he singled out the issue of defective ID card photographs produced. However, he said he was satisfied that the Guyana Elections Commission is trying its best to correct the situation.