President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition, Desmond Hoyte are to meet again on Thursday to further clarify the contentious issues on their agenda.

A joint statement issued after their meeting yesterday said that they discussed a number of matters related to the Depressed Communities Committee; the Bauxite Resuscitation Committee; the Radio Monopoly and Non Partisan Boards Committee; the Distribution of Land and House Lot Allocation Committee; and the appointment and the composition of parliamentary sectoral committees.

The two leaders last month agreed to re-energise the Depressed Communities Committee by reconstituting it, but they are still to announce the changes they have made. There was a deadlock on the Distribution of Land and House Lot Allocation Committee over the composition of the land selection committee for Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) and its representation on the Central Housing and Planning Authority. The issue was referred to the two leaders for their consideration.

The two leaders are to consider the report of the radio monopoly and non-partisan boards committee, which includes recommendations for new broadcast regulations. On the recommendation of the committee a Broadcast Advisory Committee (BAC) was set up as an interim measure to advise the Prime Minister on the implementation of the amended broadcast regulations he promulgated earlier this year.

Hoyte was unhappy about the government's decision to restrict the BAC to a monitoring mechanism. However, Prime Minister Sam Hinds has told Stabroek News that a new arrangement was being worked out for the committee whose members believed that it should also look at programme content. As a result, he said, the operations of the broadcast monitoring unit, which is to service the committee are also being reassessed.

The government and the opposition are deadlocked on the issue of the ministers being members of the parliamentary sectoral committees and which side should chair them. The failure to establish these and other committees created by recent amendments to the Constitution has stalled the re-constitution of the service commissions as well as the Public Service Appellate Tribunal.