President Bharrat Jagdeo last year initiated the structured dialogue with PNC/R and Opposition Leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte and the two had several meetings which saw agreement on a range of issues.

But the PNC/R, citing differences with the Government over the implementation of the agreements, put the talks on hold in March this year and has been boycotting sittings of Parliament.

Western diplomats and several local groups and organisations have repeatedly called for a restart of the dialogue and Commonwealth Secretary General, Mr. Don McKinnon, has appointed Sir Paul as his envoy to help get the dialogue back on track.

The envoy ended his second visit here last week and in a statement yesterday, the PPP, the main partner in the governing PPP/Civic alliance, accused the PNC/R of rejecting Sir Paul's move to restart the dialogue process.

However, in a statement at its weekly news conference yesterday, the PNC/R claimed that President Jagdeo had attempted to sabotage the work of the envoy.

It argued that the President had first invited the Commonwealth Secretary General to send Sir Paul to Guyana to stimulate dialogue between the major parties and then, having talked to Sir Paul, made "a live broadcast in which he did everything possible to sabotage the work" of the envoy.

But according to the PPP, the PNC/R, true to form, "does not want political stability in Guyana."

It said that the PNC has since the 1950s spurned any effort to facilitate a genuine and productive dialogue process.

"Mr. Hoyte and company, who were also around then, will recall their party's rejection of Ghana's founding President Nkrumah's offer (which the PPP accepted) to facilitate national dialogue in the 1960s to foster greater peace and harmony in the country.