Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that the government remains in election mode and as a result the PPP/C could not be expected to immediately take part in bipartisan committees proposed by President David Granger except for the one on the border.
He told Stabroek News yesterday that “we can’t talk about social cohesion when large amounts of people are losing their jobs and they [government] are not giving credible information why they are losing their jobs except in our view because of their race or political affiliation.”
The former President said that it was preposterous to be sitting side by side in a committee every day talking about social cohesion while the government is on the other hand making charges against the opposition that there was widespread theft of resources under the PPP/C.
He said that it was his personal view that while the government was still in campaign mode the government should take a few months to complete the plethora of forensic audits that they have undertaken and based on those findings the committees can be organised. He stated that as the Opposition Leader he was “reluctant” to partake in any committee that propagates one ideal while parallel to that the government was making claims that there was rampant corruption under the former administration.
Jagdeo told Stabroek News that while he had his reluctance “in the absence of any other view I have to take their efforts as genuine until we are proven otherwise.”
He noted that before any action is taken he believed the government should follow through on its campaign promises and “take action where appropriate.”
“We have made it clear at least I have done, I have made it clear as to why I believe that we should give government some time to get out of campaign mode”, he said.
Jagdeo’s comments were in relation to the four other bipartisan committees, the Agriculture Com-mittee, Budget Committee, National Unity Committee and Security Committee. He said that as it pertains to the Border Committee the party is ready to offer its full support.
The former president said that “we should not be playing politics with our borders.”
He stated that the border matter cannot wait and that the opposition had a responsibility to stand with the government in terms of external threats.
“We will work with the government even when it makes all of these blunders like it did in the budget process”, Jagdeo stated.
He stated that the formality of the meeting did raise some concerns and that he was not aware that the meeting with Granger on Monday would entail signing on to various committees. Jagdeo said that the Minister of State Joseph Harmon had sent an invitation letter to his home and not to his office in Queenstown and as a result he did not receive the letter. He said that in a follow up discussion with Harmon via text message he asked what the meeting with Granger would be about but got no response. However, since he had already agreed to attend he went.
He said that the Execu-tive of the PPP will be meeting this week but he did not know whether the committees would be up for discussion. He told this newspaper that he could not at this point in time give any assurances as to when the party will come to a decision as to whether it will take part in the committees or when.
The meeting between the former president and current was the first official engagement between the government and the opposition since the General and Regional Elections in May.
