To this end, the group through its spokesperson, Dr Peter De Groot, yesterday dispatched letters to the Political Parties in Parliament and their leaders, inviting them to a meeting at the National Library, on Monday next, starting at 15:30 hrs.

The letters, addressed to President Bharat Jagdeo; Leader of the Opposition Mr. Desmond Hoyte; Mr. Donald Ramotar, General Secretary, Peoples Progressive Party (PPP); Mr. Oscar Clarke, General Secretary, Peoples National Congress, Reform (PNC/R); Mr. Ravi Dev, Leader, Rise, Organise and Rebuild (ROAR); Mr. Manzoor Nadir, Leader, The United Force (TUF) and Ms. Sheila Holder, Guyana Action Party/Working Peoples Alliance (GAP/WPA), stated as the purpose of the meeting the “ reviewing and settling a document on the prevailing security environment and a Joint Communiqué on Crime.”

The letter which recalled that the Social Partners had agreed to treat the security environment as a separate issue, which required immediate attention under the Joint Consultation process, noted that because of the group’s lack of experience with such matters, it sought the assistance of “ retired heads of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to assist as experts in the preparation of a paper.

In addition, it said, a series of meetings were held with the leaderships of the parliamentary parties, with President Jagdeo and the Leader of Opposition, in respect of the document.

According to the Social Partners, responses were received from all but one of the participants in the Joint Consultations and that further meetings were held concerning their responses.

It is the view of the Social Partners that the responses and particularly those from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), have sufficiently clarified whatever differences existed between the parties and that “ the stage has now been reached for a meeting between the parties to move these matters to resolution”.

The letter further asked of the political parties that they limit their representation to two or three persons “with authority to settle the above documents, and to decide on further steps to be taken as regards constitutional reform and shared governance”.

Meanwhile, the WPA in a letter responding to the draft communique on Crime for Social Partners, said it noted with pleasure the progress made by the group regarding the agreement reached in the latest version of the “Joint Communique on Crime”.

It also commends the efforts of the Social Partners which are intended to reverse the prevailing security environment through the eight measures proposed.

The WPA noted, though, its reservations about some aspects of the Joint Communique including, the proposed institutional arrangements in the document which it feels veered too far away from the original participatory intent being advanced by the Social Partners in Article 13 of the Constitution; that the focus of crime in the document is unacceptable, as the goals set cannot be met if crime is not addressed in a manner which treats with the widespread perception that “white-collar” crime, corruption and extra-judicial killings form an integrated network of activities, which support and reinforce the crime the document seeks to address.

In addition it said the latest proposal for the establishment of a security Advisory Committee (SAC), clearly sacrificed the national objective in preference to a State security objective that really excludes us as a parliamentary opposition party.

In the circumstances, the WPA requested clarification regarding what part the Social Partners propose that the Party should play in the joint consultation with President Jagdeo and Mr. Desmond Hoyte.