President questions dialogue process, to flesh out new proposal
Some agreed decisions not yet fully implemented
Current Affairs July 2004
Stabroek News
July 21, 2004
President Bharrat Jagdeo has finally broken his silence on the proposal by Leader of the Opposition, PNCR leader Robert Corbin that all the parliamentary parties and civil society groups should be involved in discussions of issues of national importance. Corbin made his proposal during a broadcast to the nation on March 31.
On July 9, the President told those present at the launching of the Roraima Airways-owned Residence Inn that he was no longer interested in a dialogue with Corbin and that any future discussions should take place in the National Assembly. In a news bulletin from the Government Information Agency the next day, it was said that this was a misleading report and the President was quoted as saying the next day, at Guysuco's Demerara Estates Regional Honour Roll Function, "I welcome dialogue, but the dialogue at our level must not be a substitute for what takes place at the level of Parliament." He went on to say "If there is an issue that Opposition Leader wants to meet me on, he is free to contract my office at any time.. that is what I encourage." The President was further reported as saying that he did not wish his work with the Opposition Leader to subvert the functions of Parliament. He explained, "Therefore I believe that the dialogue that was traditionally conducted in the past at our level should be taken to the Parliament so it could be done in the full purview of the people of this country, all the people."
Current Affairs understands that the President is to flesh out the details of his proposal at a later date according to an Office of the President official. His original statement could have been construed as bringing to an end the constructive engagement process he and Corbin agreed to embark on in February 2003.
In an invited comment to Current Affairs Corbin said that Jagdeo's statement "reflects a confused or a deceitful mind."
"He seems oblivious to the fact that only one major item remained to be discussed on the constructive engagement agenda and that was Inclusive Governance which he (Jagdeo) placed on the agenda."
"The issue now is not really the Dialogue/Constructive Engagement per se, but the (Government's) failure/deliberate delay in implementing decisions arrived at. Jagdeo's statement is therefore yet another manifestation of his blatant breach of faith and his determination not to implement decisions."
About the locating of the dialogue within the parliament Corbin says that it was never meant to replace Parliament. "For Jagdeo to say so indicates his lack of knowledge of the very issues which were the subject of the agenda discussions."
He explained that most of the items were geared to have the Parliament function properly in accordance with the Constitution. "It is the refusal by the PPP Government to implement the parliamentary reforms that led to the recent dialogue. It could never therefore have been intended that dialogue would replace the parliamentary process."
On the other hand, Corbin says that the dialogue served another important function that Parliament could not as it bound the President to decisions which Parliament could not and cannot do. "In this way the decision-making in some matters is more meaningful. It avoids the current acrimonious debate and enables objective problem-solving if the parties are serious."
GAP/WPA's Sheila Holder who with Ravi Dev has always argued for the inclusion of the smaller parliamentary parties in the discussions between the President and the Leader of the Opposition is pleased that the President has finally come around to their viewpoint.
However, she believes that unless it is accompanied by a firm commitment to the reformation of the parliament she can only describe it as window dressing to impress the international financial institutions and the donor community.
She explained that as it stands at present, the parliament is dominated by the ruling party in the sense that the parliamentary opposition has very little chance of affecting decisional outcomes. "The Standing Orders offer little or no hope for the parliamentary opposition being able to get its business on the Order Paper unless the government is so disposed. Ministers have no time limit to answer questions that are tabled unlike other democracies where there are limits within which answers to questions have to be provided. Moreover, if the questions are a source of embarrassment they are ignored completely."
Holder explained that in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair has to answer questions put to him by British parliamentarians.
She says, "To the extent that the parliamentary opposition cannot escape being a rubber stamp in parliament for government decisions, it is a disincentive for the PNCR to participate in the process."
She says that it is the President's responsibility to ensure that the parliamentary opposition could more effectively represent their constituencies in parliament by being able to affect in some way the decisional outcomes.
ROAR's parliamentarian Ravi Dev describes Jagdeo's statement as "rather petulant." He told Current Affairs, in an invited comment that the President is not looking at the process and what it is intended to do.
Dev explained that ROAR in the beginning, after there were problems in the streets and the dialogue between Desmond Hoyte and Jagdeo started, that because it was not being held within an institutional framework it would fail. "We felt that (the dialogue) should have been given an institutional structure."
However, dev observes that the parliament was not working as intended and the dialogue should not be returned to that body, "We feel that Article 13 of the Constitution gives the government and all of civil society an omnibus article under which we can put in place the proper mechanism to engage in discussions about where the country is going."
Dev observes though that it would be necessary to fashion some mechanism for civil society to select itself and suggest that the formula agreed for representation on the Ethnic Relations Commission could be utilised.
The Commonwealth Secretary General's envoy, Sir Paul Reeves during his visit here last month told Current Affairs that he is trying to locate the engagement between the President and Corbin within the parliament. While he described it as "the appropriate forum" Sir Paul said that he recognised that Guyana's history and tradition of government did not give to the parliament the pride of place it deserves.
As part of its assistance, Sir Paul said that the Commonwealth Secretariat will be providing assistance to the parliament to assist in the development of the committee process as well as to the Speaker in the running and administration of the parliament.
Meanwhile, there has been no real movement on the issue of the commission of inquiry into the death squad allegations which had been a hurdle to the resumption of the constructive engagement process. President Jagdeo seemingly bowed to pressure and withdrew the appointment of Police Service Commission chairman, Ivan Crandon. In his place he appointed former Chancellor of the Judiciary and Attorney General in the last PNC administration, Prof Keith Massiah SC. The other two commissioners are Ian Chang Justice of Appeal and former Army Chief of Staff, Norman McLean, who was a senior police officer before being appointed to head the Guyana National Service and then the Army.
However, the Commission has only one term of reference and that is to inquire into Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj's alleged involvement in the activities of the death squad. Gajraj has proceeded on leave but was reported to have visited his office to conduct a meeting of the heads of the Police Force and the Prisons and Fire Services.
So far there is no provision for a witness protection programme with the President detailing a host of difficulties that would prevent its establishment.
The establishment of a witness protection programme has been a demand of the parliamentary opposition and other civil society organisations, made more urgent by the murder of George Bacchus who revealed the existence of the death squad and the alleged involvement of Gajraj.
While the PNCR is dissatisfied with the arrangements in relation to the terms of reference and the way it was appointed it told a recent press conference that it would do nothing to disrupt its work.
However, an official says that whether or not it provides the commission with the affidavits it has in its possession would depend on how credible are the arrangements to safeguard the identity and safety of the persons who provided the party with them.
On a related matter, President Jagdeo also revealed that he has asked for the reassignment of the United Nations Resident Coordinator Jan Sand Sorenson, who is presently on home leave and is not due to return to Guyana until the end of August.
The President told reporters this month that he had asked for Sorenson's removal because he was meddling in matters which he did not think were in his remit. Informed observers have said that the government was peeved by Sorenson's statement on the appointment of the commission in which he expressed the view that all stakeholders should be consulted.
Sorenson was the coordinator of the donor community's effort to ensure the implementation of the parliamentary reforms but the donor community was strangely silent on the President's action. In fact the US Ambassador, Ronald Bullen, pleaded for the commission unilaterally appointed by the President to be given a chance. There have been no statements on the commission by the heads of the British and Canadian High Commissions.
Observers say too that the government probably had a hand in the recall of the Commonwealth point of contact here, Chuks Ihekaibeya. During his last visit, Sir Paul explained that Ihekaibeya's mission has been completed and that was the reason he returned to London and that Judith Pestaina would now be the point person and would visit Guyana periodically..
But observers suspect that the Government was unhappy with Ihekaibeya's work.
Meanwhile, there are some decisions emanating from the dialogue which the government has the responsibility for implementing. Among these are the projects that were to be implemented on an emergency basis in Regions 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) and Region 10 (Upper Demerara/Upper Berbice) and the appointment of several commissions created by amendments to the constitution, and the arrangements for the holding of local government elections.
The status of the implementations of some of the decisions as of July 18, is detailed below and is based on information that Current Affairs has been able to ascertain so far.
1. Parliamentary and Constitutional Reform:
Parliament
(a)The various parliamentary committees established as a result of amendments to the constitutions have all been constituted and have held several meetings save for the committee on constitutional reform which has had just one meeting. The Attorney General chairs this committee. A priority task for this committee is the designing of a new electoral system to replace the one-off system used at the last elections. The constitution provides for the committee to co-opt the expert assistance it needs to do its work.
(b) There is still some dissatisfaction with the way the Parliamentary Management Committee operates. The parliamentary opposition is dissatisfied that the government is still to provide a legislative agenda which would inform them of the bills the government intends to bring to the Assembly for a specified period.
(c) Current Affairs understands that the internship programme proposed by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) that would recruit University of Guyana personnel who would work with the Committees Division of the Parliament Office to assist the parliamentarians with their research is being actively considered by a working group comprising representatives of the Parliament Office, the University and NDI.
(d) Work is proceeding on improving the physical facilities for parliamentarians including the provision of additional committee rooms and an office for meetings of government and opposition parliamentarians.
Constitutional Commissions
(a) A number of the constitutional commissions are yet to be established. They are the Indigenous People's Commission, the Women and Gender Equality Commission, the Commission for the Rights of the Child and the Human Rights Commission.
(b) The Ethnic Relations Commission has begun its work in the absence of the non-voting members to be appointed by the Commissions listed above. A Chief Executive Officer has not yet been appointed nor have the members of the Tribunal to which its decisions could be appealed.
(c) The Public Accounts Committee is still deadlocked on the criteria for evaluating nominees submitted by the PPP/C and PNCR whose resumes it has before it. The representatives of the President and the Leader of the Opposition were to have met to discuss the issue and if they could not agree, to refer it for a ecision by the two leaders. It was never discussed either by the two leaders or their representatives. The Constitution requires the persons to be appointed to have "expertise and experience in procurement, legal, financial and administrative matters."
(d) In terms of the Human Rights Commission, Corbin, Current Affairs understands is yet to hear from the President to whom he wrote requesting that they consult on the remuneration package for its chairman if it is to attract the calibre of person required to chair it. Corbin feels that the chairman should not be paid the same remuneration as paid to the chairmen of the other constitutional commissions. He says, however, that he is prepared if the government decides not to review the remuneration package, to allow the persons whose names he submits to the President to decide if the package is attractive enough for them to agree to being considered for appointment.
The Constitution requires the person to be appointed as chairman of this Commission to have been a judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction or be qualified to be appointed a judge of such a court or any other fit person with expertise or experience in human rights matters.
(e) Related to the Public Procurement Commission is the Public Procurement Act 2003 which has been the subject of discussions between the government and opposition to resolve some of the latter's concern. A legal opinion on some ambiguities in the legislation was sought but Current Affairs could not ascertain whether there have been any further meetings. The Act is still to be implemented.
2. Implementation of the Decisions of the Bipartisan Committees:
(a)Committee on Land Policy and House Lots Distribution:
The PNCR has not yet submitted its assessment of the State Paper the Minister of Housing and Water laid in the National Assembly last year;
(b) Joint Task Force on Local Government Reform
The Task Force has before it three models of electoral systems from which to choose one to be used at future local government elections. An electoral expert whose services were provided by USAID presented the committee with the models and he is to return to finalise the details of the system it chooses. The committee is yet to meet to make a decision on the model to be used.
(c) Joint Committee on Depressed Communities Needs:
Only one of the identified projects has been completed. That is the project at Blueberry Hill in Region 10. The position of the others as far as Current Affairs can ascertain are as follows:
Region 10
The project at Victory Valley is incomplete as there was a change of contractors. The money remaining from the sum allocated is insufficient to complete the remainder of the work.
Current Affairs understands that the Region 10 administration will provide the additional funds needed.
Region 6 (Fyrish /Gibraltar)
The pumps that have been ordered are not yet in place. A committee of residents in the area has recommended some excavation work for which the region has advertised for tenders. It anticipates awarding these tenders shortly and the work should commence in another ten days. The temporary pumps are still there at the request of the residents.
(d) Joint Committee on Radio Monopoly and Non Partisan Boards :
Though the merger of the GTV and GBC took effect from March 1 to form the National Communication Network its board has not yet been constituted. It is however anticipated that the board will be constituted in accordance with the recommendations of the committee which recommended that boards of the state media organisations should each comprise one representative each from the Consumers' Association, the University of Guyana and the workers of the particular entity; no less than three but no more than four members nominated by the President; no less than two but no more then three members nominated by the Leader of the Opposition after consulting with the other opposition parliamentary parties. The general manager will be an ex officio member of the board.
The discussions between the representatives of the President and the Leader of the Opposition were inconclusive as was that on giving effect to the commitment for Equitable Access by Political Parties (as distinct from Government) to the State Media.
(e) Establishment of the Committee to Prepare a Comprehensive Development Programme for
Region #10:
Though the final report on the Government's projects and programmes being executed in Region 10 was submitted by Friday, September 19, 2003 and the President and the Leader of the Opposition established a Joint Team to examine the document so as to determine whether it represents a comprehensive development programme for the region, there has been word on its conclusions.