President Donald Ramotar on Friday said he is still confident that he will be able to convince the Opposition parties to sit down and have dialogue with him about the way forward during the prorogation of the parliament period. He also made it clear that he would prefer for the issues to be ironed out locally rather than for international help to be obtained.
Speaking at a press conference at his New Garden Street office, Mr. Ramotar said he remains open to talks with the Opposition and will be writing the Leaders of the opposition parties in the new week inviting them to talks. He said he is hopeful that his invitation will be accepted despite the public declarations from both opposition parties that they do not intend to have any discussions with the President and his government during the prorogation period.
“I have been hearing in the public that they have been saying that they do not want to speak with us, but I would take that as their first position, and I would say that hopefully when the emotions would have been removed from this that good sense and maturity will prevail because this is our business as politicians, we talk to each other”, President Ramotar said.
The Speaker of the National Assembly on Friday wrote to the Commonwealth Secretary General, seeking the Commonwealth’s assistance in solving the problem facing the Guyana Parliament. In that letter, Speaker Raphael Trotman, invited the Commonwealth Secretary General to send down a team to Guyana to intervene so that the situation could return to a state of normalcy. The President said his preference would be for Guyanese to address their own problems and not have to depend on outside help.
The Speaker has said that the President’s decision to prorogue the parliament has silenced the voice of the people through the National Assembly.
But according to the President, while proroguing the parliament was not his only choice, it was his best choice after being faced with a no confidence motion. He told reporters that although he is confident that his government would have won the debate on that no confidence motion, he knows that they would have lost the vote, owing to the opposition’s majority in the National Assembly. Mr. Ramotar said he does not plan to prorogue the parliament again if there is no compromise. He said he will set a timeline for national elections.
The prorogation period could last up to six months. The President said he hopes that the Opposition will meet with him and not allow that entire six month period to last.
A number of local and international groups have expressed their disappointment with the President’s decision to prorogue the Parliament. The Organisation of American States has called for the country to return to parliamentary democracy in the shortest possible time.
File: 14th November, 2014
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