The Government will consider any proposal brought to the table by the opposition PPP/C on the issue of national unity, according to President David Granger.
Last weekend, while speaking to Berbicians at Whim, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said the APNU+AFC administration is open to a national unity government with the PPP/C. While President Granger on Thursday did not directly answer the question of whether this could mean executive power sharing, he did express optimism over the upcoming talks between the two sides.
Interviewed by journalists from this newspaper and the Guyana Chronicle during the Ministry of the Presidency’s television programme, the ‘Public’s Interest,’ the Head of State said the proposed talks between two sides is in keeping with a commitment the coalition government made in its manifesto.
“But right now we are in talks and we don’t want to jeopardise the talks since I would have had a cordial meeting with [Opposition Leader Bharrat] Jagdeo and I look forward to the development of this concept. We want to deliver to the Guyanese people an inclusionary government and let’s see where the discussions lead,” he said.
Granger reiterated that while the government received 51% of the votes at the May 11th general elections it is not prudent to lock 49% of the electorate out of the government.
“We had at all times aimed at having an inclusionary democracy and an inclusionary government so that the 49% don’t feel locked out,” he said.
He noted that the government respects the views of Jagdeo, who, following a meeting with the Head of State and told of the proposed national unity talks, said that it was an issue he had to discuss with his party.
Asked if there is no deal with the PPP/C whether the government would move to hold a referendum for constitutional change, the President said the government and the opposition will be in talks and the government has not been made any offer by the PPP/C. “We don’t want to prematurely determine what they are going to ask for… we expect to be moving at a pace that they determine. We don’t want to force the pace,” he added.
But he said there will be constitutional change. He stated that the government has already done preliminary work as part of its 100-day plan in office but it will be broad-based, including open, public and transparent consultations.
The government has since named Prime Minister Nagamootoo to lead the team for talks with the PPP/C, whose leaders have already said that his presence has poisoned the process.
According to the party, in light of the “dim view” it has of the Prime Minister, the government must know that the talks will go nowhere once he remains as head of the team.
“Thus, by pushing Nagamootoo centre-stage it is now pellucidly clear that the Coalition objective is not to have any talks at all but to put the PPP/C on the defensive and to project the Party as refusing to engage in talks with the government. The entire affair therefore smacks of a political gimmick,” the party said in a statement.
