PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo is in no way being slighted by President David Granger to lead bipartisan talks between the government and the opposition, said leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman.

President Granger agreed to lead the talks after the Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo expressed concerns to former United States (US) President Jimmy Carter, upon his intervention, that Prime Minister Nagamootoo may not be able to commit the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government. In the corridors of the Public Buildings on Friday, Trotman, who is also the Minister of Natural Resources, told reporters that the AFC welcomes the move to reinitiate bipartisan talks between the government and the main parliamentary opposition , the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).
According to him, the AFC is elated. “We don’t believe that Prime Minister Nagamootoo has in any way been slighted. Knowing him as I do, he has always been for national dialogue and would have no hesitation in stepping aside in the greater interest,” Minister Trotman told reporters.

Sincerity
However, the AFC is concerned about the sincerity of the opposition leader in treating with the matter. Minister Trotman said the AFC has taken note of the trend by the opposition to come up with various reasons why they should not engage when approached by government. “We know that way back when government started, the President had invited the leader of the opposition to become a part of some bi-partisan committees on various subjects and there was a refusal, save and except to deal with the sovereign issue, so this is good news for us,” the AFC leader pointed out.
He therefore, on behalf of the AFC and by extension the government, called on the opposition to put the interest of the country first. “So we urge the PPP/ Civic to engage and we believe that there is much to be determined and decided, particularly in the area of oil and gas, national security, border issues, national developments, so we are quite happy with [what] we are reading,” Minister Trotman said.

In the coming meetings with the government and opposition, Minister Trotman gave the assurance that the AFC will be represented. “It is government and opposition, so no doubt the AFC will be represented and the President would convene that team. The first meeting held in fact at the Ministry of the Presidency in 2015, some of us from the AFC were present at that meeting,” he recalled.

He said the concerns by the opposition leader that the prime minister would not have been able to make binding decisions are far-fetched.

“He had been authorised freely by the President to lead our delegation, so he would have been able to make binding decisions. There is no doubt about that. I was a part of that deliberation and we have no doubt that he had all of the powers to make binding decisions,” the AFC leader told reporters. For decades, the former US President has been involved in the assistance of smooth political processes in Guyana, facilitating the country’s first internationally certified free and fair election in 1992. He last visited Guyana in 2015, when he co-led the Carter Center’s 100th election observation mission of the May 11 General and Regional elections.

Over the years, there have been calls for the major political parties, the PPP and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) to put their differences aside and have political dialogue on social and economic matters of high importance. Collaboration by the major political forces, it has been opined, can foster confidence, trust as well as good, cordial relations at the national level, thereby obtaining solutions to matters of national importance.

The APNU+AFC coalition government has from its very formation stressed inclusionary governance. In fact, President Granger has repeatedly said that his administration is committed to inclusionary democracy and is prepared to consider executive power-sharing with the PPP/C. Back in September 2015, the President noted that at that year’s General and Regional Elections, the coalition secured 51 per cent of the votes cast by the electorate and as such, it would not be prudent for his government to exclude the PPP/C’s base. “We have at all times aimed at having inclusionary democracy and inclusionary government, so that the 49 per cent don’t feel locked out.” The head-of-state stressed that national unity is part of the philosophy of the coalition and noted that there must be some form of sharing, national unity and inclusionary governance.

However, last year July during an interview with this newspaper, the President had said that there has been a consistent lack of cooperation by the opposition to have dialogue with the government on matters of national importance outside of constitutional requirements.