President David Granger will “very soon” announce an initiative for engagement between the government and the opposition, according to Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman.
Inclusive governance was one of the pledges made by the APNU+AFC coalition and previously Granger had said that the government cannot have engagement with the PPP/C on the issue of inclusive governance since that party has not taken up its position as the opposition party. After boycotting the National Assembly for over two months, the PPP/C took up its 32 seats earlier this month.
Questioned about government’s inclusive governance pledges on Friday, Trotman said that one of the things he would like to do hopefully by the end of the year or in the first quarter of next year is “have a conversation with the PPP/C and other stakeholder groups including civil society on what inclusive governance means to us.”
“In other words, we’ve seen this in the Constitution, we have not really interpreted it a uniform way, [we] each have put our own interpretations to it,” he said. He pointed out that Granger has “already directed Cabinet members to ensure that they include their [opposition] shadows once they are identified for regular updates.” In this regard, he cited the ministers of Public Security and Foreign Relations and said that they have all been directed to have regular briefings with their counterparts.
Additionally, Trotman said, government will pursue a number of initiatives, such as including opposition members in country delegations when they are going to represent Guyana, for example, at climate change talks in Paris later this year. He said it is believed that it should not be a Government of Guyana delegation but a Guyana delegation that should include government, opposition and civil society representatives.
He said the government is also looking to enhance the profiles of parliamentarians generally and, particularly, see how the work of geographic MPs can be supported. A lot of things are on the table, Trotman stressed.
In terms of a formal framework for engagement, Trotman said that there would be one and the president will announce shortly his initiative for engagement between the government and the opposition. He said that he did not want to make the announcement “but there is an identifiable framework that His Excellency has set out and I expect that it will be announced very soon.”
In June, Granger had told Stabroek News that when the PPP/C takes up its 32 seats in Parliament, the government will be able to reach out to it for more inclusive governance. The PPP/C took up its seats on August 10th and the parliamentary parties have since then been engaged in the debate and consideration of the budget, which concluded last week.
He had said that as head-of-state, he has a commitment to work with all of the political parties, civil society and other non-governmental organisations.
Upon his appointment as leader of the opposition, former president Bharrat Jadgeo said the PPP/C will work with the government once there is fidelity to promises made to the populace during the elections campaign.
“I think our country deserves this, to see maturity in this Parliament, decorum in this Parliament, that their business is done here,” Jagdeo said in his first address as Opposition Leader to the National Assembly.
In his brief address, Jagdeo said that there is a grave responsibility now on the shoulders of the opposition to ensure that the country continues to move forward, that benefits are delivered to the people and that the people experience a better life.
“We all have an obligation to the people of this country—on both sides of the House—to do so,” he said, while adding that the new opposition’s approach will be different from what occurred in the previous Parliament, where he noted that there was the cutting of programmes to the detriment of the services of the people and which led to economic activities being affected. “We will never, ever, in this National Assembly, seek to remove benefits from people, whatever the constituencies or whether they voted PPP or APNU in the last elections. We will consistently try to enhance benefits to our people,” he assured.
Jagdeo added that the opposition is urging the government to fulfill the promises it made in its manifesto. “They can’t come and say we didn’t do it… we are saying that if they do not do this, then they are breaching all the promises made to the electorate,” he said.
