WHERE ARE THE LOCAL GOOD OFFICERS?

Jan 13, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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It is regrettable that it had to take the presence of a delegation from FIFA to reach an agreement which it is hoped will finally bring a resolution to the impasse within the administration of football in Guyana.
One has to ask why such an understanding as was reached last week when the FIFA delegation visited, could not have been reached through the good offices and good officers in Guyana.
Why did it have to take the presence of the governing body of world football to bring the two sides to some form of understanding?
In this regard, however, one must commend the efforts of Mr. Odinga Lumumba, who was instrumental in having the FIFA team come to Guyana and who had tried very hard over the years to bring about a resolution to the impasse. He must be very pleased with the outcome of the talks so far and credit must be given to his own efforts, including proposing the option of organizing a new administration in football, for finally allowing the contesting bodies to reach an agreement that would hopefully bring an end to the crisis.
In Guyana, we have to learn to settle our own differences through mediation, arbitration and the work of good officers. We have to learn to do this both in sport and in politics.
There are many good men and good women in Guyana, many who are respected across divides, who can act as mediators and good officers to resolve local conflicts. We know from experience that the protraction of these conflicts is detrimental to the country and often creates conditions which are exploited for nefarious ends. We know for example that crime waves are often associated with periods of political strife and conflict. Even if the crimes committed are not themselves political in nature, they often arise in the context of local political strife.
We have to therefore begin to settle our differences. The parliamentary political parties have been at loggerheads following APNU’s abandonment of the agreements it had reached with the government during last year’s Budget talks. Since then there has been little progress in terms of bringing the sides together, and this is not good for the country, especially considering that no party enjoys a majority in the National Assembly.
The positions adopted by the parties also do not lend themselves to any agreement between the sides. The opposition has clearly tried to make the government a scapegoat for what happened in Linden and the government in turn has been not as flexible as they may be in terms of consultations on the Budget.
The vast majority of Guyanese would love to see nothing better than the political parties reaching some sort of working understanding. The people understand that the sides will not see eye-to-eye on everything, but even if agreement can be reached on six or seven items of major significance, this would represent something of a major political victory.
It is however clear that the antagonisms between the sides would not at this stage allow for even such a limited agreement. There is a great deal of bitterness between the sides and it is asking too much for them to simply sit down and reach agreement on the Budget, for example.
What is needed is either a good officer or a group of good officers that could intercede to not just bring the sides together, but to be part of mediating an agreement in the same way as FIFA has come in and finally gotten the sides to make some binding commitments.
These agreements, it must be conceded, do not occur overnight. They are often the product of many months and even years of behind-the-scene discussions, negotiations and pressure. Reaching an agreement through mediation and through the work of good officers is a painstaking and time-consuming exercise, but this is often the groundwork that is necessary if compromise is to be had.
It is therefore hoped that it is still not too late for mediation and good offices intervention to stem the crisis that exists in our parliament and over the Budget. The idea of a tripartite Budget committee is not going to be acceptable to the government because it wants to ensure that its right to decide on policies for the country is not compromised.
A tripartite committee speaks to joint development of a Budget and this is clearly a non-starter, because it means that the whole process of preparing the Budget will have to commence from scratch.
A good start was made last year and agreements were reached in tough negotiations before the whole thing was scuttled. A format therefore exists which can be built upon. However this time there is a great deal of acrimony between the sides over what has transpired in parliament.
This is where the presence of good officers can help and there is no need for the Commonwealth or the OAS to be invited to be part of this process. We here in Guyana should be able to produce our own mediators and good officers that can bring resolution to the many issues that afflict our body politic.

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