(GINA) - The main Opposition Party has not honoured commitments relating to inclusive governance as stated in the reformed Constitution and it is for this reason that the Administration opposes power-sharing at the level of the Cabinet.
This is according to President Bharrat Jagdeo, who for the first time on Friday, spoke on the meetings he had with former US President Jimmy Carter during the latter’s August visit to Guyana. The President was speaking during a television interview at the National Communications Network (TV) studio.
The Constitution was reformed in 1998 following national consultations. Among the major reforms, were reducing the powers of the President; an Opposition veto on the appointment of the Chancellor and Chief Justice; expanding the functions of the Judicial Service Commission and human rights by the creation of Constitutional Commissions; and modifying the electoral systems for National and Local Government Elections;
"Even before the ink had dried on these Constitutional changes aimed at sharing power at the level of the legislature and getting the Opposition more involved in decision-making in running the country, they (PNC) had already moved on. They are not interested in implementing this anymore. They want to move now to executive power-sharing, that is, sitting in the Cabinet. I have said to Carter that is a recipe for disaster, because the same gridlock that we have in implementing these Constitutional changes, if taken into the Cabinet, could spell disaster for this country because nothing will happen," President Jagdeo said.
The President noted that Government has "significantly shared power with the Opposition."
According to President Jagdeo, the former US President asked him whether or not Government is prepared to have another reformation of the Constitution to cater for a change in the electoral systems for the National and Regional Elections before 2006.
We are not going to be tampering at every election with the electoral system to suit the PNCR because I think that they are only going to be satisfied when we develop a system that will get the PPP/C out of Office. I said to President Carter, you wouldn't agree to it in the US and the PPP/C will not agree to that. No where in this Region has there been that advancement in terms of Constitutional changes
In the 1960's, Guyana had a Constituency System, which was changed by the British rule in collusion with the US.
"We had to live with that system from the 1960's to 1992, PNC never made any attempt to change the system," he said.
The President noted that the reformed Constitution provides for a system of Proportional Representation, with elements of 'geographical representativeness.'
He noted that the PNCR's absence from Parliament is stymieing the implementation of provisions for inclusive governance that already exists in Guyana.
The Head of State highlighted the PPP/C Paper on Inclusive Governance which was presented in February 2003 and illustrates an approach to inclusive governance with political parties and civil society.
"We feel that the PNC has a very important role to play. We said let's work on a period of building trust; let us have more engagement at the level of the parties, the Parliament and the Local Government and at the Executive through the appointment of Shadow Ministers. If we build trust at that level and people learn to work with each other, maybe at some point in time we could go back to the electorate or our support base, to say we have put in place a power-sharing agreement at the level of the legislature and we have seen it work…let us experiment a bit more," he said, adding that at present there is no basis for Executive power-sharing.
Despite the twists sections of society have placed on the Carter Center's position on executive power-sharing, President Jagdeo said the Center has not endorsed the idea.
In his discussions with Mr. Carter, the President said the issue of engagement with the Opposition Leader Robert Corbin arose and his position is that the "door will always be open for discussions with the PNCR."
However, the President said that he is not prepared to revert to the same format of dialogue, as in the past, where a series of agreements are reached and then held up.
"I said to President Carter I am prepared to meet Mr. Corbin providing that the meeting is for us to discuss how we will shift all the discussions we have had before over to Parliament," he said.
The President said that Government has made enough steps to demonstrate its goodwill to the PNCR and hence, it is unnecessary for the PNCR to be 'testing Government's goodwill' following the agreements reached during Carter's visit.
He said that both Government and the PNCR have agreed to name a representative each for future engagements and while Government has named the Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon, the PNCR has failed to do the same.
President Jagdeo said regardless of the 'spins' placed on the Carter visit, the Government is focused on a letter Mr. Carter himself wrote to President Jagdeo. This document indicates that dialogue will resume on specific issues that agreements were already reached on.