British High Commissioner Greg Quinn has issued a call for reconciliation among all political parties following the recently concluded controversial elections, five months after Guyanese went to the polls.
Noting that Northern Ireland from where he hails has itself had a checkered past marred by division, but is today more unified; Quinn said that there is a lot that Guyana can learn moving forward.
He said that Northern Ireland represents an example where two divergent religious groups came to understand the need for reconciliation for the benefit of every citizen.
In a 4-minute video message posted to his Facebook page, the UK envoy said that his native Northern Ireland is an area of the United Kingdom which for decades was riven by religious hatred and violence.
In the 1990s, however, he said that political leaders from the Province’s main parties which were traditionally split between Catholic and Protestant voters “took a bold leap and decided that enough was enough” and that “violence was getting nowhere.”
He said that leaders came to the realization that violence was only harming the people of Northern Ireland when, as political leaders, they should have been working to ensure everyone had equal opportunity and rights.
Quinn noted that this realisation would later lead to the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998 after talks were facilitated by US Senator George Mitchell, which he said served as a major development in the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
He explained that it included agreement on a devolved inclusive government, civil and cultural rights, sovereignty, justice issues and policing.
He opined that the agreement “would not have been possible without the commitment of the respective political (groups), an ability to ensure they brought their supporters with them and the firm guidance and support of an independent and well respected Chair.”
The Good Friday Agreement he said, led to the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly as well as power sharing.
He said it also led to the previously unimaginable picture of hardline politicians on both sides of the divide working together as First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
He clarified that this was by no means an attempt to say that the Northern Ireland of today is perfect.
“Of course it isn’t,” he said, while noting that there is still much to do and that reconciliation is an ongoing process, but he stressed that what is important is that the country “I see today is not the country I grew up in. In a good way. A very good way.”
He said that it ultimately required compromise on all sides even as he noted that not everyone got what they wanted and that there are still issues.
Against this background, the UK envoy said he believes that with the just concluded elections process, there is much that Guyana can learn from Northern Ireland from a process which ensured two religious groups came to understand the need for reconciliation for the benefit of every citizen.
To bolster his point, Quinn then referenced what he described as an occurrence “many of us thought we would never see.”
He noted that on December 8th, 2007 whilst visiting President Bush in the White House with the Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley, Martin McGuiness, the then Deputy First Minister said to the press, “up until the 26th of March this year Ian Paisley and I never had a conversation about anything, not even the weather. And now we have worked very closely together over the last seven months, and there’s been no angry words between us. This shows we are set for a new course.”
Quinn then concluded his address with the words, “Where there is a will, there is a way.”
