Frustrating as it may be, we would strongly urge the representatives of government and the parliamentary parties to show good faith in helping the Social Partners officials achieve what has so far proven to be elusive.

Lead spokesman for the Social Partners group, Dr Peter DeGroot, and his colleagues have shown commendable patience in the search for consensus.

The Guyanese people would know by now whose demands for textual changes, some highly controversial and undesirable, have contributed to the stalemate in reaching agreement on the wording of the final joint communiqué.

Yet, we would like to believe that flexibility, born out of an awareness of the very serious national implications in failing to achieve a consensus, may yet make possible the signing of an agreement - possibly at tomorrow's meeting.

Taken together, the marathon consultation sessions of last Monday and Thursday involved approximately thirteen hours of efforts to hammer out lingering differences on the draft anti-crime communiqué.

That, at least, offers hope. So long as they are spending valuable time addressing the shape of the preamble and relevant measures as set out in the social partners-initiated draft communiqué, there remains hope for an agreement.

Frustration and Impatience
At the same time, we fully share the growing frustration and impatience of Guyanese, across political boundaries, who want to know why some, and one party in particular, continue to throw up hurdles every time there appears the promise of a "breakthrough" for the signing of the joint statement.

The criminals who have been on the rampage over the past months, in particular those operating out of protected sanctuaries like Buxton, and seem to have a passion for attacking police/army patrols, must be laughing.

Except that the hurt being done to villagers and villages, to families in and out of Georgetown and across the coastal belt of this country, is certainly no laughing matter.

The dialogue process to shape the anti-crime communiqué before moving on to the original agenda that brought the Social Partners representatives into action in the first place, must now reach a conclusion.

The parties cannot continue playing with the emotions of the Guyanese people. The stressed out security forces whose workload will become heavier with the Christmas season, need and deserve the support of all the parties.

We hope that between today and the resumption of the consultation tomorrow, those who have so far contributed to most of the problems will pull back and become, hopefully, the most energetic in finding a practical compromise. Guyana needs very badly that spirit of compromise.