Ms. Sheila Holder of the GAP/WPA joined the PNC/R in a walkout just after the Clerk read the prayers for the commencement of the day's sitting. She was also with the party when it walked out on the first day of the budget debate Monday.

Rohee said the reasons given by the PNC/R for boycotting the budget presentation and the debate were "flimsy".

Ms. Shirley Melville of the GAP/WPA (Guyana Action Party/Working People's Alliance), as she did on Monday, did not walk out with Holder. She and Mr. Ravi Dev of the ROAR Guyana Movement were the only two Opposition Members of Parliament at the sitting yesterday. They both made their contributions to the debate.

Noting the PNC/R's reasons for boycotting, Rohee said, "there has been a hue and cry from the Opposition benches that issues pertaining to governance, democracy and inclusiveness have either been scuttled or honoured in the breach by the Government." He said one of the arguments being used by the Opposition party is that the dialogue process between President Bharrat Jagdeo and PNC/R and Opposition Leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte and the committees that flowed from the process have either not been functioning or functioning in a lethargic manner.

But he said that the PNC/R's accusing the governing People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) of acting in bad faith ought to be turned around.

The dialogue process has been put on "pause" by the PNC/R Central Executive because of grouses with the PPP/C.

Rohee referred to the bipartisan committees set up by President Jagdeo and Hoyte and said it was agreed that the report submitted by the committee on Border and National Security would have been tabled in the National Assembly for consideration by the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Foreign Affairs.

None of the parliamentary sectoral committees were set up because of disagreement between the PPP/C and the PNC/R on their composition and chairmanship, Rohee noted and said that consequently that report could not have been tabled. "Therefore...in respect of this particular committee, it is not correct to say that progress was not made", he said.

He said that following the rejection by the President and Mr. Hoyte of the report by the distribution of land and house lots committee, it was decided that the body would prepare a white paper as a substitute for tabling in the National Assembly before the end of this month.

"Again...here is a non-example to give the lie to the (PNC/R) claim..."

Regarding the depressed communities committee, Rohee said that since the communities identified to benefit from electricity were squatter settlements, it was agreed that the areas would have to be regularised before the request for electricity could be implemented.

"So again...it is not true...that the committee on depressed communities did not achieve its set objectives," he countered.

The minister further pointed out that broadcast legislation is being drafted from the report submitted by the committee on radio monopoly. He said that as agreed by the two leaders in the dialogue, an interim committee comprising nominees of the President, the Opposition Leader and the Private Sector Commission has already been set up and $24M has been budgeted for the body to do its work.

"Again...I emphasise these details to stress the allegation to the effect that there is a lethargic approach in relation to the work of these committees has no foundation whatsoever" Rohee said.

He noted that following the presentation of the report by the committee on the resuscitation of the bauxite industry, which focussed on the Linden Mining Enterprise, one person each was named by the President and Opposition Leader to constitute a negotiating team to pursue this issue.

"Again this is another manifestation that progress has also been made in respect to the bauxite committee", the minister pointed out.

Referring to the setting up of the Ethnic Relations Commission, a measure to be taken out of the passing of the Ethnic Relations Bill, instructions were issued for invitations to be sent out to various committees and organisations soliciting nominees to serve on the body, he said.

Rohee noted that this was not carried out by the Clerk of the National Assembly as he wrote the President on February 19, 2002 explaining that "due to mental tiredness, with a state of lethargy and a lack of enthusiasm, coupled with the fact that he tends to be irritable and has become disorganised and not performing efficiently, that he neither has the will nor the desire" to fulfill this duty of issuing invitations to some 150 agencies.

In that letter, the Clerk said he needed urgent relief of his duties, the minister reported.

"When the President brought this matter to the attention of the Leader of the Opposition, he said he was surprised", Rohee told the House.

"It goes without saying...that it has nothing to do with the Government not wanting to take the process further", he emphasised.

On the question of the parliamentary committees, he said that using the example of the U.S., the House of Representatives there had 20 committees that had majority membership by the Republican Party when President George Bush took office and the chairmen of the committees were Republicans as well. The PNC/R is not in favour of the Government chairing the parliamentary committees.

"This is the practice in many countries...Their (the PNC/R) position is rather unreasonable. The President has said that he is prepared to continue sitting and discussing this matter, rotating the chairmanship. He has even put forward the formula to break the logjam.

"What was the response of the PNC? They called a meeting of the party and deemed that the...the dialogue has now been put on pause", Rohee said.

"It is sad that the PNC is seeking to hold the democratic process hostage to its own political designs, and this is entirely unacceptable", he added.

"They are attempting to send a signal internationally that Guyana is a country in crisis and that the Opposition is not participating in the national debate pertaining to this budget, thinking that the internationally community will give him (Hoyte) some comfort zone" Rohee argued.

"(However), the international financial institutions as well as the donor community as a whole recognise the efforts that Guyana as a small developing economy is making to pull itself out by its bootstraps and to turn around an economy around that was like a sinking ship", he said.