Hoyte still to decide on meeting Jagdeo
PNC leader, Desmond Hoyte, is still to decide whether he would meet President Bharrat Jagdeo as he is not certain in what capacity he would be conferring with him. Hoyte, who has not responded to Mr Jagdeo's August invitation to meet but had crafted an initial response which has since been disregarded, said it was not clear what clout Mr Jagdeo has and how useful such a meeting would be. He noted that Mr Jagdeo had said to the media that he was not the leader of the People's Progressive Party (PPP)/Civic nor was he the signatory to the CARICOM-brokered Herdmanston Accord or the St Lucia Statement. As such, Hoyte said, it seemed Mr Jagdeo has no political clout at the governmental level and queried why he would be meeting him. But Mr Jagdeo told reporters yesterday at a press conference that the St Lucia Statement and Herdmanston Accord have received legislative recognition and as President of Guyana, heading a PPP/Civic government, he is charged with implementing their provisions. Hoyte had not ruled out a meeting with Mr Jagdeo, repeating the idiom of never saying never. And Stabroek News understands that in the response which was being prepared to Mr Jagdeo's invitation, Hoyte was not averse to a meeting under the aegis of the Herdmanston Accord/St Lucia Statement. Hoyte said that the response to Mr Jagdeo (the details of which he refused to divulge) had been disregarded after the President's "bombshell" disclosure in relation to his party position. Mr Jagdeo, who succeeded Janet Jagan as president, has met leaders of the other parliamentary parties and had extended an invitation to Hoyte to do the same. The President said there was no time limit to his invitation. (GITANJALI SINGH)
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