The Pressure is on for the President and Corbin to resume their engagement
Failure to do so could lead to disengagement by Carter Center
Current Affairs August 2004
Stabroek News
August 18, 2004
Following President Jimmy Carter's visit, President Bharrat Jagdeo and Leader of the Opposition, PNCR leader, Robert Corbin must now come to grips with repairing their soured relationship if the Carter Center is to continue their involvement in Guyana.
*the return of the PNCR to parliament; the reactivation of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform to implement proposal for substantive governance and election system reforms, with the party documents on shared/inclusive governance as starting points; the debate in the parliament of all the provisions of the National Development Strategy and enactment of as many of its provisions as possible.
Carter has also recommended that the creation of a civil society forum to lead a structured national discussion on a vision of governance of the country to promote reconciliation and the National Development Strategy. He told reporters at a press conference before his departure that the Center would be willing to assist these efforts even in the absence of good faith efforts to adopt his other proposals.
Before Carter's visit President Jagdeo had indicated a lack of interest in continuing engaging Corbin in discussions and his preference that such discussions should take place in the context of the parliament. Corbin in expressing his intention not to continue the engagement with Jagdeo had indicated his preference that future discussions on issues of national importance should take place within a wider body that includes all the parliamentary parties and civil society.
Carter also proposed to the two leaders that the electoral system should be more constituency-based thus strengthening the bonds of accountability between the elected official and those he/she represents and weakening the influence of the party. Both leaders, according to Carter, expressed an unwillingness to abandon the party list system. However, he did note that the PNCR had proposed an electoral system for the local government elections which would see 70 per cent of the seats being constituency-based and 30 per cent based on proportional representation.
Current Affairs, as it has been doing during the past months, continues to track the implementation status of the various decisions based on its own inquiries and the position as at August 16, is set out below.
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. (This committee, Carter says, has to begin to look at electoral and governance reforms as one of the conditions for the continued involvement of the Carter Center.)
(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 University of Guyana in finalising the details of the internship programme which should commence at the beginning of the September 2004 academic year. Ten students are to be involved in the programme this year. The interns, recruited from the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities courses at UG will earn credits towards the completion of their degrees. They will be involved in providing research assistance to the parliamentary sector committees.
(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. The Speaker announced at the last sitting of the National Assembly that the work should be completed by the end of the parliamentary recess in October.
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. There have been no reported movements.
(b) The Ethnic Relations Commission continues to function though the non-voting members from the commissions at (a). The tribunal to hear appeals from the decisions of the commission is yet to be appointed.
(c) The Public Accounts Committee continues to be 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 decision 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 PNCR and PPP have tabled their reactions to the electoral models. Keri Vollan submitted for the consideration for use at future local government elections. The Task Force continues to meet to determine which of the models they will ask Vollan to refine.
(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 still 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)
One of the two pumps ordered have been received. The excavation works recommended by the committee of residents have commenced. Work on the façade of the canal should begin shortly. The temporary pumps are still in place.
(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 no word on its conclusions or if the team ever met.