SINCE OUR last Sunday’s edition, there continues to be some very contrasting, though not necessarily surprising political stances and developments involving the PPP/C administration of President Donald Ramotar and the parliamentary opposition of APNU and the AFC.
For a start, following the inauguration of the seventh Executive President and formation of his first Cabinet, with retention of most  ministers who had served in the administrations of former Head of State, Bharrat Jagdeo, there were different meetings with representatives from APNU and the AFC by the new President to discuss how the three parties could cooperate for the way forward. There was also a special meeting at the President’s office with the former presidential candidate of APNU, David Granger.
The Private Sector Commission (PSC) and GECOM held their first post-election meeting that resulted in an announcement by GECOM chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, releasing the statements of poll to all the contesting parties, as well as to the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB) and the Guyana Public  Service Union (PSU), both of which were local observers for the internationally supervised presidential, parliamentary and regional elections.
Not surprisingly, the President failed to secure support for his intended nomination of Senior Counsel, Ralph Ramkarran as Speaker of the new 65-member House of Assembly in which the PPP/C has a minority of one seat.
There are to be further discussions aimed at arriving at a consensus among all three parties for the election of Speaker of the new parliament. Ramkarran was Speaker of the House throughout the PPP/C’s 19 years in government.
Leadership representatives of APNU and the AFC held a joint meeting on Thursday to discuss cooperation between them in their relationship with the government, and how best to make use of their one-seat parliamentary majority.
While the separate meetings involving the President and opposition parties, the PSC and GECOM were taking place, activists of APNU were engaged in street protests and an illegal march that forced the  police, at one stage, to fire rubber bullets when they refused to disperse, and culminated with a number of the protesters being injured.
A dozen of the protesters were subsequently charged and placed before the court to which they are due to return on February 13 next year. Among those charged were retired Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF),  Brigadier Edward Collins, and also the young lawyer, James Bond.
Subsequently, and in another instance of contrasting positions, while the youth arm of APNU (Youth Coalition for Transformation) was on Friday calling for a boycott of businesses it claims to be “in bed” with the government,  President Ramotar was later addressing the annual dinner and awards event of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), at which he urged cooperation in preparation for Guyana’s future economic development.
A date is yet to be announced for inauguration of the new parliament, while the APNU/AFC opposition continues to strategise over their relationship with the PPP/C one-seat minority government in the 65-member National Assembly.  
At leadership level, President Ramotar continues to function as General Secretary of the PPP/C; former Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin, remains leader of the PNCR (dominant partner of APNU); and Raphael Trotman, prime ministerial running mate with the AFC’s presidential hopeful,  Khemraj Ramjattan, continues to head that party.
The Guyanese people would be closely monitoring developments in the weeks and months ahead to ascertain how the three parties in Parliament conduct themselves in accordance with their respective stated commitments to act in the best interest of this nation. We wish them well.