PNC REFORM leader Desmond Hoyte yesterday described the situation in the country as having become "very dangerous", blaming it on the government's willingness to escalate the tension in the society.

"So the writing is on the wall and I am saying that the escalation is inevitable. Where it is going to lead to I cannot tell you but the situation has become very dangerous," he said, when asked if the opposition intended to escalate its political actions if a favourable reaction to opposition demands was not forthcoming from the government.

He cited letters in the Guyana Chronicle attaching PNC leaders and a letter in the Stabroek News yesterday attacking him and television host, Christopher Ram, about whom he said that there was no reason or justification for attack.

Hoyte's comments came in the wake of yesterday's walkout by opposition parliamentarians from the National Assembly and his letter to President Bharrat Jagdeo dated March 14, in which he proposed a pause in their dialogue discussions until the decisions they had taken were implemented. Yesterday's sitting was the first since early December, as a result of the failure of the government and opposition to reach agreement on the constitution of some of the parliamentary committees created by recent amendments to the constitution.

Hoyte said, in answer to reporters, "the dialogue will not proceed unless we see some evidence of a willingness to implement the decisions already taken or mandated by the parliament."

In a letter in response to Hoyte's that should have been delivered last evening, President Jagdeo was said to have expressed surprise at the decision of the PNC/R executive, given the forward movement on a number of issues engaging the dialogue process.

Sources told Stabroek News that President Jagdeo was particularly surprised in the light of the decisions reached when they met on February 18-19, on among other things the reports of the joint committees on the Border and National Security, Depressed Communities, Land Allocation and House Lot Distribution, Management of Parliament as well as the sector committees and the Ethnic Relations Commission.

Stabroek News understands that President Jagdeo had raised the issue of the parliamentary committees and the commission at the last meeting and had suggested that they deal with it given the failure of their representatives to reach agreement since October. Hoyte reportedly suggested that they deal with it at their next meeting, following President Jagdeo's return from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Australia. Stabroek News understands that the meeting should have been held on Thursday, but was postponed because of Hoyte's schedule.

Yesterday's walkout left Finance Minister, Saisnarine Kowlessar, to deliver his 125-minute National Budget presentation to the government members, a sparse public gallery and less than full attendance by the special invitees.

The presentation was sprinkled with desultory applause from the government benches with the most sustained being that for the announcement of no new taxes.

About the walkout, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Reepu Daman Persaud, described it as a "cheap shot", asserted that the government was "as anxious or even more anxious to have all the committees set up.

"The doors are open for negotiations. There might be other options. We got to talk; we are willing to talk. We want to bring the committees into operation as quickly as possible."

He told reporters after parliament was adjourned to March 25, "we have negotiated in good faith. We have compromised, shifting its position from the government chairing the committee to rotating chairmanship."

Answering reporters after delivering a prepared statement on the withdrawal from the National Assembly at the entrance to the Public Buildings, PNC/R chairman, Robert Corbin that his party would review its position about returning to parliament based on the changes in the government's position.

He said that credible steps must be taken immediately to implement that outstanding constitutional and parliamentary reforms, stressing that the imperative of constitutional reform must be kept on the front burner of measures, which were critical for the reform and modernisation of the state.

Corbin said that walkout by the PNC/R was "to register its total disgust at the failure of the PPP/C Government to honour its responsibility for good governance, its refusal to implement agreed constitutional changes, to implement many decisions made during the process of dialogue and the clear intention of the government to subvert the functioning of the Parliament..."

He said that with promises, agreements and commitments being capriciously disregarded and conveniently forgotten, the PNC and other opposition parties' patience was exhausted, claiming that the government's "attitude and modus operandi have not created and cannot create, the needed environment of trust and trustworthiness the necessary conditions for continued cooperation for peace and development."

Corbin recited the oft-repeated litany of complaints about decisions and agreements, which the government failed to implement, including the constitutional amendments that established seven new parliamentary committees including the four sector committees responsible for the "scrutiny of all areas of government policy and administration." The seven committees are Natural Resources, Economic Services, Social Services and Foreign Relations.

He reiterated his party's position that ministers should not be members of the commission in accordance with the constitutionally enshrined principle of collective responsibility.

But Persaud argued that the amendment did not state that ministers should not be members of the committee, since that was not its intent. Also, he said that if the government ministers were left out, then there were only about 16 backbenchers to appoint to these committees, six of whom were already members of the Public Accounts Committee which meets regularly.

"If we want these committees to work, we got to be rational and practical. This is considered a small parliament as against major parliaments in different parts of the world."

Persaud said that given that scenario the government would be restricted it appointing members to them and that it wants not only to name them but to ensure that they functioned effectively.

About the principle of Collective Responsibility not inhibiting ministers from being members of the sector committee, Persaud that the intention of the committees was to ensure that the resources were efficiently managed.

"I think the mistake in these things is that you only go to blame and criticise and not to make a constructive contribution."