The Third Caribbean/UK Forum opened to a full house in the Grand Savannah Suite of Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel last evening with all the trimmings in place, but against the backdrop of a protest by the main opposition PNC REFORM (PNC/R).

While the management of Le Meridien unwrapped a new foyer, L'Oasis adjoining the lawns of the Poolside, and flambeaux lined the entrance of the hotel, the PNC/R welcomed delegates and protested at the same time to bring to the attention of the international community its concerns about a number of issues.

Delegates and invitees to the opening ceremony were drawn from the United Kingdom, CARICOM and CARIFORUM member states, the local diplomatic community, multilateral funding and donor agencies and the Guyana government.

Each PNC/R banner read: `PNC REFORM welcomes to Guyana Overseas Guests.' But below this, individual banners said the Government of Guyana - 'Pays lip service to Judicial Reform', `Supports Police Brutality', `Encourages official corruption' `Rejects constitutional reform', and `Indulges in rampant discrimination'. There were some 35 protestors holding placards which expanded on the themes on the banners.

PNC/R General Secretary, Oscar Clarke, told Stabroek News that the party needed to let the international community know what was happening.

Clarke said that the major concern was that of implementing constitutional reforms agreed to by both parliamentary parties and which were approved in parliament and assented to by the President, but which for reasons unknown were not being put in place.

In the midst of all of this, he said, corruption and "official scams" were rampant and included the "stone scam, law books revision scam, Cane Grove Conservancy Dam breach scam, Mon Repos Sea Defence scam, among others" and the government, he said, seemed not to be worried by them.

But the ruling PPP/Civic countered with a release in which it condemned the opposition in its "ongoing campaign to besmirch the image of Guyana in the eyes of the international community."

Acknowledging that the PNC/R has the democratic right to protest, the party said that the PNC/R seemed happy to persist in making libellous and baseless charges against the administration. The party said that even more ludicrous "is its often-repeated charge of police brutality coming just hours after a senior law enforcement officer was murdered at the hands of the five wanted bandits: an act the PNC/R is yet to condemn."

Recent examples of the PNC/R treating the international community with disdain, the PPP/Civic said, were after the results of the 1997 and 2001 general elections which the international community had declared were free and fair, but the PNC rejected.

The PPP/Civic recalled the PNC "banning food items, crippling the economy, engaging in rampant corruption and no Auditor General's Report for the last ten years of its rule and total disregard for democracy and law and order [had] showered disrespect on the nation."

According to the PPP/Civic "we are still today suffering from the image of a nation of suitcase traders, pickpockets, smugglers and protestors - an image the PNC is keen on perpetuating for its own objective."

Stating that the PNC/R must cease fomenting an atmosphere of unease in the country, the PPP/Civic said that it must be noted that its recent threats of "extra-parliamentary and undemocratic actions" were akin to "a local brand of terrorism designed to hold the country and its people hostage as it makes unreasonable demands as part of its scheme to grab power."

Inside the conference venue the scene was set for intense discussions and there was a welcome diversion in the form of an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and ceramics mounted by the Hadfield Foundation in the lobby outside the Grand Savannah Suite. In addition, the functional exhibition mounted by members of the Guyana Manufacturers' Association and the Private Sector Commission was attracting conference participants and other guests staying at the hotel. A staff member told this newspaper that persons had been making enquiries since Tuesday evening. The main attractions appeared to be the wooden and cane furniture by Precision Woodworking Ltd and Liana Cane Interiors.

The hotel itself was not to be left out in the grand scheme of things and General Manager Jean Guillaumot told Stabroek News that the hotel took pride in building L'Oasis for the occasion. The cocktail reception hosted for the delegates and observers to the meeting by Foreign Minister, Rudy Insanally last night "christened" the new foyer.

Today President Bharrat Jagdeo hosts a business breakfast at State House for the delegates prior to the start of the plenary sessions at Le Meridien. A ministerial working lunch will be held at the Cara Lodge and later in the evening British High Commissioner to Guyana, Edward Glover, will host a cocktail reception.