President offers to pay for PNC/R dialogue advertisement
Hoyte dubs it grandstanding
Stabroek News
July 19, 2002
President Bharrat Jagdeo is offering to pay for a half-page advertisement in which the PNC/R could respond to the whole page ad dealing with the progress made in the work of the six committees that was set up by the dialogue process.
But PNC/R leader, Desmond Hoyte, dismissed the offer as grandstanding. He told Stabroek News: "we have gone past that stage and the government must implement the decisions that were taken."
President Jagdeo made his offer when he hosted a press conference yesterday at the Office of the President at which he dealt with a number of issues including the just concluded CARICOM Summit, which he chaired, and the present political situation in the country.
He said that he is offering to pay for the advertisement for the PNC/R so that the public could see for themselves who is putting up the barriers to the resumption of the dialogue. Asked if his offer was an attempt to get around the problem of arranging a meeting between their two representatives, President Jagdeo said the way to resolve the differences between the two parties is for himself and the PNC/R leader to meet as they are the ones who can make the decisions on the outstanding issues, which he said are not many and on which they are not far apart.
President Jagdeo also commended the initiative by a group of citizens, which is seeking to encourage the two sides to resume their dialogue and to broaden it to include civil society. He said he had received a letter from the grouping asking that he meet representatives of the Bar Association, the Trades Union Congress and the Private Sector Commission. He said that he had replied that he would meet them on Tuesday. Nigel Hughes, Lincoln Lewis and Dr Peter de Groot, respectively, are the representatives of the three organisations. Hughes and Lewis told Stabroek News yesterday that decision for the three organisations to approach the parliamentary parties was taken before the citizens' group came together and the three merely sought its blessing for the undertaking.
President Jagdeo has expressed reservations about the inclusion of political types in the grouping, observing that civil society must not have a political agenda. He said that the association with the politicians could undermine the efforts of the grouping.
But Hoyte does not share President Jagdeo's concern, telling Stabroek News that his party does not have a position on it. Hoyte too has received a request to meet representatives of the three organisations. He said that a reply would be sent to the grouping today. PNC/R parliamentarian and chairman of the REFORM component of the PNC, Stanley Ming, said that he signed the advertisement, which the grouping sponsored in the newspapers last weekend. He said that he subscribed to the views expressed in the advertisement by the citizens and believes that all the parties should subscribe to, and make vigorous attempts to implement them.
Hughes declined to comment on the desirability of politicians being among the collection of individuals and organisations comprising the grouping. However, he said that he is a representative of the Guyana Bar Association, which finds common ground with the views articulated in the advertisement.