For a politician who has had the privilege of serving as President for seven years, and a much longer history in the governance of this country - although not based on the freely expressed will of the electorate - the Opposition Leader has adopted a most undesirable and dangerous stance in rejecting calls for resumption of dialogue with the President.

Since the suspension of the dialogue by the PNC/R leader, and the ensuing confusion over the reasons for so doing, the Jagdeo administration chose to go directly to the public with paid advertisements in the newspapers, detailing the progress made in every area of agreement and resulting from the six bi-partisan committees that were established by the high-level dialogue process.

It has gone even further with its offer to the Opposition Leader of paid half-page advertisements in the newspapers to refute the government's case outlining the progress that has indeed been made, instead of engaging in "all kinds of vague excuses" and stirring up trouble with the objective, as Jagdeo said, of destabilising the economy and making a grab for political power.

The PNC/R should, in the interest of public information, take the opportunity, at its own expense, if it does not wish to accept the President's offer, to clearly outline the areas of lack of progress, in response to the case set out by the PPP/C administration.

Let the Guyanese people be the judge, free from coercion and distortions. They are entitled to have the facts, irrespective of party affiliation, so that they can help, in their own ways, to influence matured, sober responses to the problems that need to be addressed in a climate of stability and respect for the rule of law.

Civil Society’s Team
The criticisms made by the PNC/R leader against the calls and most recent initiatives by representatives of friendly foreign governments as well as local civic organisations, is most regrettable.

After all, these calls have been made in the national interest of Guyana. For the PNC/R to pour scorn on the appeals for resumption of dialogue, to talk over differences, instead of subjecting the country to costly political conflicts, is hardly a responsible attitude for a major party that thinks it has the answers for the "right kind" of governance.

At the same time, we wish to point out that while it is the right of civil society to choose its representatives to meet with the President and the Opposition Leader to get them to resume their dialogue, there should be more sensitivity in the composition of the team selected for such a mission.

Included, for example, in the three-member team as reported in another section of the media, to meet with Jagdeo and Hoyte, is the General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress, Lincoln Lewis.

That the GTUC deserves to be on such a team is quite acceptable, the other representatives being from the Private Sector Commission (PSM) and the Guyana Bar Association (GBA). Why the religious community of the Christian and non-Christian faiths, has not been included, is quite surprising. That's another matter.

But unlike the officials of the GBA and PSC, the GTUC's Lewis is on record as being most hostile in his public utterances against and opposition to President Jagdeo.

One would have thought that, objectively, after Lewis' recent emotional outbursts of who is "a liar" and what else against the President, during his appearance on Sharma's television (Channel Six), he would have been humble enough to excuse himself from being on the team in preference to another colleague of what, incidentally, remains a fractured labour movement.