THE basis for a national front government or shared governance, the type that obtains in Zimbabwe, should be trust.

To achieve trust persons on both sides of the political divide must respect each other and acknowledge the contributions made or are being made in the interest of national development. It must be acknowledged that the interest of the country is the motivating factor for participating in the political process.

The presence of Leader of the Opposition, Robert Corbin who presented a tribute to the late former President Janet Jagan, and other members of the opposition parties in the National Assembly last Tuesday at the State funeral was a step in the right direction.

I am looking forward to the other opposition members who were unable to acknowledge the work of Janet Jagan at the funeral to do so in time.

It was regrettable and shocking therefore, to learn that there are elements in the opposition PNCR who were objecting to recognising the contributions of the late President, while other seems to be suggesting that the late former President was in some way responsible for divisions in the political sphere.

After the split in the PPP that led to the formation of the PNC there were several attempts, post independence, at reconciling the two parties. According to the writings of Elvin Mc David these talks were going on up to the death of Burnham, and were halted by his successor Desmond Hoyte.

The PPP in Government post 1992 has made several radical changes to the political process to include the parliamentary reforms that sought to ensure a more inclusive participation in governance by the opposition, something that the PNC had failed to do during their time in office.

The issue of national unity is something for the PNC to honestly address. They need to decide whether they really want national unity or control of the government. The President recently said that there were talks ongoing up until the last PNC congress last year. The leadership of the PNC need to explain why those talks were stopped and if and when they would be willing to restart the talks.

The hardliners who are objecting to these talks need to be exposed so that they would be ousted from the political process in the interest of national unity. Honesty and trust is the way forward. As far as I see it the ball is in the PNC’s court.
EDWARD SIMON