The Commonwealth is considering a request by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) to finance the visit of an Irish human rights activist who has been nominated by the party to sit on the Disciplined Forces Commission.

Maggie Bierne has been unable to travel to Guyana to be sworn in as a member of the Commission as the government has said it is not prepared to foot the costs associated with her assignment here.

Speaking with Stabroek News from Jamaica yesterday, Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon says the request for assistance had been drawn to his attention and he would be taking the opportunity to speak to other organisations and stakeholders on it.

McKinnon, who is attending the CARICOM Heads of Government summit, which begins today, said “we have got to help make it (the dialogue between President Bharrat Jagdeo and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin) work” and if they both agreed that assistance for the visit of Bierne was necessary the Commonwealth was willing to help. He said he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the Commonwealth would finance her visit. McKinnon is expected to have discussions with President Jagdeo in Jamaica on this and other matters. Besides the Commonwealth, the PNCR has also approached other organisations to help with arrangements for Bierne’s assignment here.

McKinnon’s special envoy to help stimulate political dialogue here, New Zealander Sir Paul Reeves, has made several visits to Guyana in recent months. Asked whether he thought these visits have helped to create a more positive environment for dialogue, McKinnon, also from New Zealand, said that such initiatives in his experience take time and there are periods when not much happens. He contended that it is “all about confidence building” between the two sides. He said Sir Paul is “fully engaged” here with the major stakeholders and both sides appreciate the effort. He said Sir Paul could always be pressed into service whenever needed but that the political difficulties between the two sides could only be resolved by Guyana and Guyanese. “Anything imposed (from outside) will only be short-lived”, McKinnon said. Sir Paul was assigned by the Commonwealth Secretariat to help spark a resumption of dialogue at the height of the impasse between the government and the PNCR which included a boycott of Parliament more than a year. Talks have since resumed between the two sides following the election of the new PNCR leader, Corbin and a communiqué was signed between the two sides on May 6.

Asked about his reaction to the collapse of the UK conference on the way forward for Guyana which was to be held in Britain this week, McKinnon said that he had held the position early on “that the conference was something premature”. He said he had spoken to both Jagdeo and Corbin on the matter and “it just seemed to me that there were a number of issues people weren’t fully settled on that would create greater downsides than upsides”. He felt it was a matter of timing and that the conference could still be held later.

McKinnon had been one of the intended speakers at the event organised by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. The conference was called off by the UK after the government here complained that it had not been consulted on the matter.

McKinnon is in Jamaica for consultations with Caricom leaders on economic, political and security challenges facing small states.