This was announced at his regular post-Cabinet news briefing yesterday by Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon who said the convening of the meetings is in response to an earlier mandate given by President Jagdeo.

He said the consultation would involve a series of meetings to be held in various regions of Guyana.

The administration has invited the parliamentary political parties, civil society and non-governmental organisations to participate in the first meeting, which is to be chaired by Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Ronald Gajraj, he said.

Luncheon told reporters that some of the intentions would be to provide more deliberate information on the Government's initiative in response to the current crime situation and to aggressively pursue feedback from communities, target groups, and to make reports to the public on the outcome of the meetings.

It is intended that a small steering committee would be formed to guide in the public consultation, and ultimately reports on the meetings would be made to the President, and hopefully to the appropriate committees in Parliament, the top Government official said.

Meanwhile, responding to the perception that many of the crimes committed may have been attributed to the workings of deportees, Luncheon said that that being so, Guyana is still committed to accepting Guyanese who have been deported.

Reaffirming Guyana's position on the matter, he stated: "We are committed to accepting Guyanese who are being returned as deportees. We are committed."

Setting the record straight, he told reporters: "I might have conveyed the wrong impression if you thought I meant that the initiatives with the Canadians and the Americans were to withhold sending deportees back."

Alluding to the mood in the developed North, particularly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Luncheon stated, "In that context, we anticipate a certain rigidity in the way in which the issue of returning of deportees to wherever - in this case the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) countries, and specifically to Guyana, is concerned".

"The support that Guyana sought, and which is enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding submitted to the American Administration, and which is still under consideration by the American Administration, was to have the return of the deportees subjected to a number of features," he outlined.

Those features included a clear-cut timeframe and adequate identification of those involved in and deported for certain categories of crime.

Another aspect was the system of technology to be used for the monitoring of, and following up on deportees, once brought home to Guyana, he said.

On the domestic side, he said Cabinet has approved legislation that would make for the monitoring of deportees, if that becomes a legal instrument.

He said that on the basis of the Commissioner of Police adhering to certain legal restrictions and regimens of moves, various deportees would be mandated to present themselves at periodic intervals, failing which sanctions and penalties would be applied.

POLITICAL SITUATION REVIEWED
Meanwhile, Luncheon said that Cabinet on Tuesday reviewed the political situation with particular emphasis on the body politics and its engagements, as well as civil society initiatives.

"Since the pause by the PNC/R (Opposition People's National Congress Reform) in the dialogue, and since the crime wave, much of which is politically motivated, other groups in Guyana have expressed the need to be more involved in the affairs of state", he said.

(The PNC/R, because of perceived differences with the Government over agreements from the process, in March this year suspended the dialogue President Jagdeo started more than a year ago with its leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte.)

Luncheon said the main social partners have all stood up and been identified - the religious bodies, the private sector and the trade union movement.

These have been joined by other professionals and other non-governmental organisations, he said.

Luncheon noted that a basic thrust of these bodies is their call for a resumption of the dialogue with wider participation and a more enlightened management.

Civil society groupings have highlighted Article 13 of the Constitution as the basis for the re-emergence, he said.

The speech of Hoyte, returned as leader of the PNC/R at the weekend party biennial congress, also provided some support for the civil society initiative, as he (Hoyte) declared for newer initiatives in governance, Luncheon said.

He said that as far as the body politic is concerned, the PPP/Civic Administration has maintained the same basic position:

** implementing the constitutional provision and the Fundamental Rights Commission;

** appointing the Service Commissions;

** appointing the Parliamentary Sectoral Committees.

He said that it is the view of the Office of the President that since there seems to be a long journey ahead in evolving an acceptable system of governance in Guyana, there should be a start with the first step - fulfilling the promises of the recently concluded constitutional reform process.

EXTRAORDINARY CABINET MEETINGS
Luncheon also announced that over the next two days, Cabinet will be meeting in some extraordinary sessions to address a budget review; some modifications in the capital budget; the investment programme and a number of other sectoral concerns in Legal Affairs, the Foreign Service, Public Works and Communications and Agriculture.

He said the review of the budget was to provide an opportunity to examine the first half of the year in terms of the performance of the economy.

Also, in the light of some of the representations that have been made in the continuous outreach meetings and exercises by Cabinet Ministers, "to attempt some conversion, to a more 'labour intensive' delivery of our capital projects."