It was disappointing as it was not much different from what was said on the campaign trail, Roopnaraine said in an invited comment to Stabroek News yesterday. He said that they would have liked to have heard a legislative programme or a vision for the future and this is why the coalition has suggested that the President cultivate a habit of going to the Parliament every year instead of every five years. Roopnaraine said Ramotar’s plea for cooperation is fine but they still have to see “some evidence that the PPP is ready to accept the new reality.” He stated that that the PPP should not believe that the opposition is not prepared to be constructive.
With regard to the tripartite committee, Roopnaraine said that they are trying to iron out their differences but agreed to disagree on the Committee of Selection. They had left the meeting last Tuesday with disagreement on the composition of the committee, he said. In the first order of business after the ceremonial opening of Parliament, the opposition defeated the government on a vote to determine the composition of the key Committee of Selection.
The committee will comprise nine members: four from government and five from the combined opposition.
“My hope is that the Committee of Selection issue would have been resolved at the level of the tripartite committee,” Roopnaraine stated yesterday adding that the PPP is taking a long time to get used to the fact that it is now a new situation, but it is not impossible for them to find ways of working within this new dispensation.
President Ramotar, in his inaugural speech to the 10th Parliament, said that his administration is willing to “exercise patience, forbearance, and reasonableness in the interest of all of our people” but warned it would not be held ransom to “intractable postures”.
The speech was labelled throne-like by Opposition Leader David Granger and a “report card” on the positive developments in the country by AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan.
However, Ramotar ex-pressed the hope that all political parties could work together and that history would record that they succeeded at a time when they were put to the test.
“Indeed the make-up of this new Parliament dictates that we seek consensus and compromise and should resist the temptation to believe that any party can ride roughshod over another.
Any such attempt may see us missing the historical opportunities that this new composition offers. I urge that we put the interest of our people first,” Ramotar said.
In his speech, he urged that they all work assiduously to find common ground within and outside Parlia-ment saying that in his administration there is the political will to do so. “My government has already committed to regular engagements with the parliamentary parties.
Through these engagements I hope we can continue to nurture the political thrust and create an enabling climate for consensus building.”
