Pressure will breed pressure - Nagamootoo
INFORMATION Minister, Mr. Moses Nagamootoo has made an impassioned appeal in the National Assembly for the re-start and continuation of the inter-party dialogue, warning that a failure of dialogue would be a failure of the will for political reconciliation in Guyana. Referring to threats of renewed protests by People's National Congress (PNC) leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte, the minister declared that "pressure begets pressure", as the Guyanese people will no longer allow themselves to be held hostage to street terrorism. The PNC broke off talks with the ruling party over disagreement with a statement by the PPP/Civic's Dr. Roger Luncheon that the two sides were not equal. Dr. Luncheon had explained that the "unequal" remark was not directed at his counterpart, Mr. Lance Carberry. He has said that there was no problem in the two parties meeting as equals, but this would not be the case if they were to meet as government and opposition, or deal only with governmental policies. In his hour-long speech Friday last, Minister Nagamootoo stated that it would be most unfortunate if the dialogue were to fail because of a word. He referred to the South African experience and the negotiating strategy of the African National Congress (ANC) with the apartheid regime. He quoted from Joe Slovo, a leader of the armed struggle, who had advised against responses that were ad hoc, reactions that were influenced by a passing mood, or passion generated by an event or a particularly outrageous pronouncement by the other side. Nagamootoo said the success of negotiations has little to do with mutual trust, or good faith, or some special chemistry between leaders. Quoting Slovo, he stressed that negotiations or dialogue take place because "an objective balance of forces makes this a feasible political strategy". In Guyana, the Minister told Parliament, there is an objective mood for reconciliation. He issued a challenge to the political parties to deliver "our beloved Guyana with safe hands to the new millennium, for the new generation, for posterity and forever". He urged that Guyanese must learn from struggles such as the South African one which has been hailed the world over. "We must learn from the generations before us, the centuries before us in arriving at a theoretical framework of where we have come from, and where we want to go in our own quest for self-emancipation. "We must also be informed by those fighters who have gone through the crucibles of struggle, and who have triumphed and brought levels of reconciliation and unity in their society," said Nagamootoo. Rebutting the contention by the PNC leader that the PPP/Civic derailed the dialogue process, Nagamootoo told the House that the PPP/Civic has sacrificed the most to fulfill the Herdmanston Accord. The accord, he explained, stands on four legs: a CARICOM Audit of the ballots cast in the 1997 elections; inter-party dialogue; a moratorium on street protests and marches; and constitutional reform. It was the PNC, he said, which has violated the accord. The PNC refused to accept the results of the audit, broke the moratorium with street demonstrations, and took seven months to re-enter Parliament which caused undue delay to the enactment of necessary legislation to start the constitutional reform exercise. Commenting on Mr. Hoyte's statement that the PPP/Civic could make commitments for the Government at the dialogue table, the Information Minister said the Herdmanston Accord did not place an unreasonable burden on the PPP/Civic as a "hybrid" entity to discharge simultaneously at the dialogue table the functions of a party as well as those of the Government. The "hybrid" function, he added, was possible under the doctrine of paramountcy of the party when the Government and the ruling party were indistinguishable. He said it was unacceptable for Mr. Hoyte to foist "paramountcy" on his party. Speaking on the statement by the PNC that the Government only understands the language of "pressure", Nagamootoo retorted that the dialectics of the situation were such that "pressure will bring pressure" as the Government will not be held hostage by anyone. "Time is catching up with us, and we should give an assurance to those leaders of our century and other centuries, who have guided us, that we can mould this nation into a common entity, a unitary state - indivisible, united and bonded together. This state belongs to all of us," Nagamootoo appealed. The Minister, who was granted two extensions to his speaking time, concluded that while the fundamentals of the economy and the state are intact, the last elections spawned certain insecurities in the society. "There are certain fragile areas, particularly in race relations that we must address, and I want to ask that we should use the opportunity not to wage war, and protests and destabilisation, but to re-start the dialogue... "A failure of the dialogue is a failure of the will for reconciliation." 
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