Its foundation, which will best be tested with the passage of time - is located in a lengthy, 26-point joint communiqué signed last week between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Leader of the People's National Congress/Reform, Robert Corbin.

Given the nature of traditional divisiveness along racio-political lines in the multi-ethnic society - one whose natural resources remain critical for regional economic transformation within the Caribbean Community - there is understandable inclination to raise expectations to new heights in viewing the Jagdeo-Corbin "cooperation" pact as historic.

More precisely, as the blowing of a refreshing wind of change across the country's deeply scarred social/political landscape that needs careful and methodical treatment for healing and progress by all sectors of society - not just the two dominant contenders for state power.

But experience is a good reminder for caution while keeping hope alive, for - as indicated in my column of February 9 this year - today's perceived "wind of change" could quickly prove a 'mirage' if the negative, reckless forces are allowed to succeed.

This is not to pour cold water on the May 5 Jagdeo-Corbin communiqué on "constructive engagement" - their kind of tango to give cooperation a chance. It is clearly a very significant piece of creative political work, a most welcome development in the local body politic.

It is just that hopes have too often been dashed among a people who have good reasons to be cautious as they savour this new dance in bi-partisan cooperation for Guyana's future.

Both Jagdeo and Corbin have themselves echoed sentiments requiring a pragmatic approach rather than a glassy-eyed, emotional response. They know only too well the hard row they have to hoe in getting all stakeholders seriously involved for peaceful social and economic development in a climate of racial harmony and political stability.

In some ways, the Jagdeo-Corbin joint communiqué may remind readers of the background to and signing of the joint communiqué of six major areas as released in Kingston on November 1, 2002 at the conclusion of negotiations involving Jamaica's Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and Opposition Leader Edward Seaga and their respective team of party political players

Mood of expectancy
In the case of Guyana, what has brought about the mood of expectancy for a positive shift in Guyanese politics, has to do with two related important political developments between May 2 and May 5:

First, the decision, finally, of the opposition PNC/R to end its 25-seat boycott of the 65-member National Assembly, after some 14 months, except for the aberration of participating in a single sitting for a private member's motion.

Secondly, the resumption, finally, of a high-level dialogue process involving key players of the governing and opposition parties, the two political thoroughbreds for control of state power over the past 48 years.

The dialogue had been placed on "hold" by the PNC/R's Desmond Hoyte, who died from a heart attack in December last year. Failure to resume took almost as long as ending of the PNC/R's parliamentary boycott.

With the PNC/R's new leader, Corbin, sworn in as parliamentary Opposition Leader, three months after being elected to succeed Hoyte, he and President Jagdeo are warming up to each other with language designed to encourage good faith and dispel rumours and the undermining of efforts at national cooperation.

The resumed high-level dialogue has coincided with a significant decline in the offensive from a criminal network that has been operating primarily out of the village of Buxton, some 12 miles east of the capital, Georgetown.

Their latest kidnapped victim, a senior official of the United States Embassy in Guyana, released on ransom, had led to a hasty visit by a team of kidnapping experts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Before returning to the USA, the FBI team left behind what I understand to be a report so carefully edited that it may be of little, if any significant use to the local security forces.

The escalating crime wave, with charges and denials of opposition linkages, especially with well-armed bandits operating out of their Buxton 'safe haven', added fuel to social tension in a society that has suffered too much for too long from the consequences of race-oriented party politics.

Welcome alternative
Now, after recent weeks of quiet but vigorous, methodical political negotiations, the stage was finally set for an end to the PNC/R's boycott politics and a preference for constructive engagement to resolve what divides - in the national interest. The development has been warmly welcomed by the Guyana Trades Union Congress.

This significant turn in events marks a triumph for political maturity and both President Jagdeo and Opposition Leader Corbin deserve to be commended for showing there is indeed an alternative to confrontational politics.

Confrontation has very much been the trademark politics of the PNC since losing in October 1992 its firm control of state power it held for some 24 years. During that time, it would have been sheer idleness to talk of either "inclusive" or "shared" governance, as PNC/R elements and their sympathisers are now regularly urging.

If, indeed, therefore, the current optimistic mood, spawned by the new "politics of change", is not transient, but rooted in an honest desire by both the governing and main opposition parties to translate political will into meaningful, pragmatic actions, Guyana may yet have lessons from which other Caribbean societies - Trinidad and Tobago, for example - can benefit.

The joint communiqué coincided not only with an end to the PNC/R's boycott of parliament, but the long delayed swearing in of members of an Ethnic Relations Commission.

Agreements on a range of bipartisan committees intended to make a difference in parliamentary governance and the terms of reference for the Disciplined Forces Commission leading to a probe into the functioning of the Guyana Police Force, as well as establishment of a Public Procurement Commission, are all part of the "constructive engagement" process.