RALPH Ramkarran’s article in the Chronicle is a welcome attempt to put the political stalemate in some format. Unfortunately, the government and opposition may, as he states, appear to be circling each other warily, trying to seek advantages which may bring gains in the future.

Guyana cannot wait for one of the parties to improve their chances at a next election, by showing the other party’s evils.
The government’s responsibility was to do whatever it could to address whatever questions or concerns the opposition had, before resubmitting the estimates previously rejected. On the other hand, before government re-submitted the estimates, the opposition had an equal responsibility to specifically state what they expected in the re-submitted estimates; or at least raise those questions again, instead of rejecting the resubmission without asking a single question.

If it is true that the President has assent power and the opposition has power of the purse, then Guyana faces a stalemate or gridlock in governance, unless the parties at least agree to work on those things they both support, and negotiate on the rest. This much at least they owe their supporters and Guyana at large. The real “RACE” issue in Guyana is how fast we are prepared to go to the economic bottom.