Dialogue pause to continue - PNC/R
Says terrorism allegation must be withdrawn
Stabroek News
June 26, 2002
The proposal by Opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte to President Bharrat Jagdeo in a letter last month was not for the resumption of dialogue, but an approach to address the deadlock on the formation of the parliamentary committees.
"The President and his Freedom House managers have cranked up their propaganda machine to distort the matters under consideration in order to mislead the public that the proposed discussions between Mr Carberry and Mr Persaud constitute a resumption of the suspended dialogue. Far from it, the proposal by Mr Hoyte was intended to deal with only one constitutional issue, namely, the appointment of the 7 new parliamentary standing committees, a matter on which the PPP/C has been deliberately intransigent," PNC/R's Chairman Robert Corbin said in a statement on television broadcast on Sunday.
Lance Carberry is the representative of the PNC/R on issues affecting the inter-party dialogue, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Reepu Daman Persaud represents the PPP/Civic. Corbin said the matter of the parliamentary standing committees must be separated from the wider issue of the resumption of dialogue as it was only one of the serious issues which forced the PNC/R to suspend the dialogue.
Contacted for a response, information liaison to the President, Robert Persaud, said Corbin's statement was another indication of the PNC/R's ambivalence towards the continuation of the dialogue process. He urged Corbin to update himself on the progress made in the various areas of agreement, despite the pause position adopted by the PNC/R.
Corbin asserted that until the government satisfied all of the conditions for the resumption of the dialogue, the party will continue its policy of active non-cooperation. "The PNC/R wishes to state categorically that the government has failed to satisfy the necessary conditions for the resumption of the dialogue. The PPP/C must recognise that we are tired of their excuses for non-performance and their irrational behaviour of blaming others for their failures to perform," he said.
Corbin noted that there were calls from various sections of society for the resumption of dialogue. He advised all such persons to carefully study the issues that were the cause of difficulty and use whatever influence they had on the government for it to show good faith and seriousness in addressing the concerns.
The party's central executive committee met on June 20 to consider President Jagdeo's response to Hoyte's letter of May 14, in which the PNC/R leader proposed an approach to resolve the impasse in constituting the parliamentary committees.
Corbin said it was significant that President Jagdeo's response came almost a month after Hoyte had made the proposal and one week after it was public knowledge that the PNC/R leader was out of the country. Hoyte is still overseas.
Corbin said the letter was delivered to Hoyte's residence and charged that its contents were released to the media before it was delivered. He said that in view of the fact that the letter was dispatched to Hoyte's home during his absence from the country, the PNC/R would advise its leader of the committee's views when he returned.
He said the letter suggested that the President only then knew that a response was needed from him before any meaningful discussion could continue between Carberry and Minister Persaud.
Corbin said that since the receipt of Hoyte's letter of May 14, the PPP/C and the government sought to vilify the PNC/R and its leadership as terrorists and criminals. He said the government has refused to seriously address any issue of major concern to the PNC/R and those matters, which have caused the present crisis in Guyana.
"The PNC/R, therefore, considers the intent of the [President Jagdeo's] letter to be mischievous and deliberately intended to continue the virulent propaganda campaign, which both the government and the PPP have been conducting against the PNC/R over the past months," he stated.
Corbin said it was unfortunate that President Jagdeo did not see it fit to acknowledge Hoyte's proposal in good time and to inform the Opposition Leader as to whether he agreed to implement the proposal. He contended that the President sought to score cheap points by suggesting Carberry did not want to meet Minister Persaud.
Robert Persaud, said the claim of non-response to Hoyte's letter of May 14 to the President regarding the appointment of the sectoral and parliamentary management committees was simply an issue of unnecessary formality. He pointed out that Hoyte's letter was merely a response to President Jagdeo's invitation of May 9 for them to meet.
He said if Corbin had checked with Carberry, he would have learnt that Minister Persaud, at the behest of President Jagdeo, made repeated efforts to contact Carberry had finally made a formal request in writing.
Persaud said Carberry failed again to attend a meeting and Minister Persaud wrote again on June 14 stating "...it is unfortunate that you were not available to meet on Monday June 3, 2002, and on Friday June 7, 2002. You undertook to call me on Tuesday, June 11, 2002. Not hearing from you, I called on Wednesday June 12, 2002...In the circumstances, I wish to propose another date - Monday June 17, 2002...."
Persaud said in the context of Carberry's refusal to meet Minister Persaud, President Jagdeo advised Hoyte on June 18 about the difficulties and took the step to formally notify the Opposition Leader again of the President's willingness to meet.
The PNC/R statement said that Central Executive Committee also considered the charges by the PPP/C that the PNC/R was a terrorist organisation and, by implication, the PNC/R leaders are terrorists. Corbin said the committee considered this to be verbal abuse beyond allowable boundaries of political debate. He noted that these accusations had been presented to the diplomatic and international communities. "The central executive committee of the PNC/R has decided unanimously that notwithstanding any other condition for the resumption, the PNC/R will not resume any form of cooperation with the regime until this allegation is publicly and unconditionally withdrawn."
Persaud said Corbin's demand for a retraction of the PPP/C's statement on terrorism was just another demand to avoid a resumption of the dialogue.