If one is to be guided by a series of actions  between the PPP/C administration and the political opposition, APNU,  last  Wednesday,  then  there is great hope for the future of this nation as it relates to  matters of governance in this challenging  phase.
Finally, it seems that the much promised, much spoken of, pathway of  compromise and  consensual politics as a means of finding solutions, so much espoused by both APNU and the AFC during their respective electoral campaigns, and which both groups had selfishly ignored as it related to critical issues such as the election of the Speaker, is finally being applied.
Therefore, the nation, particularly the general public service, must be breathing  a sigh of  great relief, compliments of Wednesday’s   parliamentary decision  that saw the government and A Partnership for  National Unity (APNU),  voting against the Alliance For Change pernicious proposals to effect  budgetary cuts to three ministries that would have resulted in the termination of  employees’ services, and lowering of salaries. What a national economic tragedy, with all the inherent social consequences, such would have caused!
Since its return to parliament,  the AFC‘s behaviour can be  likened unto a little bully boy, who believes  that its tactic of threatening “jail  for corrupt officials” is all that matters, rather than finding rational solutions for the current  budgetary and other  challenges before the House.
This party gives the impression, on a daily basis, that it has the answers for all the  perceived  problems that  it has pronounced on, relative to this nation’s affairs.  Its latest course of action, disastrous in every sense because of its ill-conceived intent, was taken without any consultation with its elder opposition grouping, APNU.
Had this been  done, it  would have had the benefit of proper advice against such a politically suicidal strategy. What is so revealing about such proposals is that it attracted the concerned and  immediate response of public servants, whose placards would have sent a clear message to this political party   about its anti-working class policies. Unsuitable and rejected! How in the name of  good heavens, could such proposals have been made without thought to its likely consequences, can only be concluded as the blueprint  of mad hatters!

It was evident that consideration of the 2012 budgetary estimates had reached a decisive stage where rational thinking with a view of a  consensual approach was necessary, so as to avoid a parliamentary collision that Granger declared his opposition party did not want, and one which had  seemed imminent. But such was not to be. At least,  the APNU  leader realised that the time had arrived when  he would have to prove his responsibleness as a national  leader, in so far as being part of the solutions to the nation’s  critical challenges.
He conceded  during his address to the House, as to the difficulties the  Finance  Minister faced in crafting the budget, describing the process as complex,  and offered working together as a way of surmounting the difficulties.  It was a situation that Speaker Trotman  understood as well, when he advised both sides of the House to meet for a solution. The rest is now history.
It is a lesson in political maturity that Khemraj Ramjattan, leader  of the AFC, must  heed. This party has mostly  acted in a manner of diktat, because of its perceived pivotal place in the parliamentary equation. It seems to believe that it is not necessary to work together with the Executive, or even consult with APNU, for  compromise, for consensual decisions.   Well, its older, much wiser, and much experienced sister opposition grouping,  has  shown  how to deal with critical issues that threatened the nation’s well being – by dialogue, and eventual consensus.
Again, House Speaker,  the  Honourable Raphael Trotman, must be commended for having the wisdom of advising  discussions on the way forward. Surely, he is the man for the hour.
Finally, the hundreds of public servants who gathered in Brickdam, in protest against the AFC’s unpatriotic proposal, have  sent a clear signal to that party, that it is not yet ready for serious politics.