WHEN Guyana's two major political parties began dialoging in 1998, after poll fraud claims and post-election violence had threatened to subvert the rule of law and ravage an economy already reeling from the effects of domestic and international factors, most Guyanese cheered.
It was the dawn of a new era, they hoped.
And they had good reason for optimism.
After an election campaign that fueled ethnic cleavage, the victory of the PPP/C and the assumption of the presidency by Ms. Janet Jagan seemed too much for some members of the main opposition, PNC.
They deemed the poll fraudulent, faulted the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for being ill equipped to run and therefore compromising the running of a free, fair and transparent election, and unleashed a spate of violence against supporters of the ruling party.
For the victims and all Guyana, January 12, 1998 was one of history's worst moments.
Amid the crisis, CARICOM brokered a compromise. On January 17, 1998, the regional grouping got President Jagan and PNC leader Desmond Hoyte to sign the Herdmanston Accord, a two-page document that, among other things, committed the two leaders to the start of inter-party dialogue, to work toward constitutional reform and to the return of the PNC to parliament.
CARICOM also agreed to a request by the two parties for an audit of the December 15, 1997 election results, and the parties agreed - by their signing of the Herdmanston Accord - to abide by CARICOM's findings.
But in June 1998 when CARICOM Chairman Dr. Kenny Anthony announced the results of the audit as affirming the election victory of the PPP/C, the PNC not only refused to accept those findings; protests and violence erupted once again.
It took another Herculean effort by CARICOM, through what emerged as the Saint Lucia Statement later in June 1998, to secure the commitment of the parties to abide by the terms of the Herdmanston Accord and bring some level of political stability to Guyana.
We've seen the inter-party dialogue resumed and suspended on at least two other occasions and the international community, as is once again the case, having to intervene to get Government and Opposition to continue to talk.
It's amazing that international community members, some of which are sometimes criticized for "interfering in Guyana's internal affairs," have to intervene so often to get our leaders to confer, when they are aware that dialogue is critical to the country moving forward!
We expect the Government to assume that the PNC/R is serious about putting Guyana first and take the initiative, in the interest of peace, security and national growth, to have the inter-party dialogue resumed.
And we expect the PNC/R to substitute the public interest for partisan political mileage and reverse its suspension of the consultation process, guided by its commitment - in the words of late President Hoyte - to "creating a better Guyana that is free from ethnic insecurities, social injustice, poverty, crime and sectarianism."