PNCR Jagdeo/Corbin talks unlikely in immediate future -says PNCR
Stabroek News
March 27, 2003
The PNCR believes that a meeting between its leader, Robert Corbin and President Bharrat Jagdeo is unlikely in the immediate future, as it has had no response to all of the issues which it submitted as being in need of urgent attention.
It said that it was only on Friday that Dr Luncheon confirmed that a new and expanded team had been appointed to settle the arrangements for the meeting. The information was received on Friday evening confirming that the new team would comprise Ministers Gail Teixeira, Dr Henry Jeffrey and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Reepu Daman Persaud. They were appointed to discuss with PNCR Chief Whip Lance Carberry, "all matters related to the proposed meeting."
Persaud and Carberry were originally appointed by President Jagdeo and Corbin respectively to settle the arrangements for their meeting. They met on February 11, February 25, March 3 and March 11.
In a release issued over the weekend the PNCR said that a report in the Guyana Chronicle had suggested that sufficient progress had been made to allow for a meeting by March 22 if the PNCR had responded to proposals from the government given them the previous week.
It also referred to the Stabroek News' article of March 21, which it said was misleadingly captioned 'Government offers deal on parliamentary committees.'
The PNCR release said that the PPP/C's proposals had been delivered on the evening of March 14, and that they were only forwarded after Corbin had written President Jagdeo on March 12, indicating that his party had yet to receive a response to its February 25, proposals. The response was expected on March 11 as Persaud had asked for time to consult with the President who was still in New York when he and Carberry met on March 3.
The release said too that minutes before the March 11 meeting, President Jagdeo, in a telephone conversation with Corbin, had suggested that the number of representatives on each side to plan the meeting be raised to three.
The release noted as well, "Mr. Persaud's letter of March 14, 2003 did not respond to all of the issues submitted by the PNCR as requiring early resolution." Also it said that on March 17, Carberry, in response to a suggestion from Persaud in his March 14, letter, requested him to arrange a meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly. The meeting was to "discuss the strengthening of the Parliament Office to provide that Office with the capacity and the capabilities to service the operations of the seven (7) New Standing Committees of the National Assembly." The meeting was arranged and held on Friday March 21, 2003 at 10:00 am in the Office of the Speaker.
Concerning the Stabroek News report a PNCR spokes-man has said that none of the proposals made by the PPP was new. Referring specifically to the proposal that the Speaker should chair the Parliamentary Management Committee, the spokesman said that the exact proposal had been tabled by the Opposition months ago and that the article had inaccurately said that the proposal gave the Speaker an original vote.
