President David Granger met yesterday with Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo and the two discussed the ongoing border controversy with Venezuela and a series of committees to be set up.
It was the first time that the President was meeting Jagdeo in his capacity as Opposition Leader.
A statement from the Ministry of the Presidency last evening said that the Opposition Leader has agreed to work with the administration to deal with the Venezuela border controversy.
Also discussed at the meeting was the establishment of five bi-partisan committees. These bodies are the Agriculture Committee, Budget Committee, Border Committee, National Unity Committee and a Security Committee. These committees appear to be an entirely new initiative by the President to engage with the opposition PPP/C. There are four sectoral committees of Parliament which may overlap with some of these committees identified yesterday.
The four sectoral committees are economic services, foreign relations, natural resources and social services.
The Ministry of the Presidency statement quoted Granger as saying: “Once Mr. Jagdeo was elected Leader of the Opposition, I wrote him inviting him to talks, because as Leader of (the) Opposition he has certain Constitutional obligations”. Granger added that there is important work that has to be completed on the packed roster of the Eleventh Parliament including the 2016 Budget and support for the agriculture sector, particularly the rice and sugar industry.
Given the importance of these issues the President said he is pleased that the meeting occurred as it is important to start addressing matters of national interest. Jagdeo was sworn in as Opposition Leader on August 17.
Granger stated that his administration is prepared to work with the Opposition for the benefit of the people of Guyana. He added that there is the urgent problem of threats to Guyana’s territorial integrity that must be addressed, a reference to the Venezuela border controversy.
There was no statement from the Opposition Leader yesterday on the meeting.
The meeting yesterday followed a report in the last Sunday Stabroek where Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman said that Granger was to “very soon” announce an initiative for engagement between the government and the opposition.
Inclusive governance was one of the pledges made by the APNU+AFC coalition during the election campaign.
