There is a need for talk

Feb 19, 2013 Editorial

Each sitting of Parliament seems beset by partisan issues to the extent that more often than not, the work of Parliament is stalled. One gets the impression that the government insists that it be allowed to operate as though it has a parliamentary majority; the opposition knowing that it has a one-seat majority; is bent on having the government realize that control rests with the opposition.
For as long as parliamentary democracy existed the government held sway once it had a majority in parliament. Bills presented by the government side were passed sometimes without any change, despite presentations by the opposition for changes or modifications.
The conclusion is that, parliament has always been a sharply divided institution. On occasions when there was a ‘free vote’ in parliament the wider society then became sharply divided, putting brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters.
For the first time in the history of the country the opposition commands the majority in parliament and it would seem as though there is payback. Change does not come easy. The ruling party saw the old system as fostering conventions. In fact, it insisted that these conventions and norms and practices be allowed to continue.
It is this desire to see a continuation of the old systems and practices that has led to the sharp divisions in the country. The first budget to be presented by the Donald Ramotar administration saw something that never happened in the history of Independent Guyana. There was the budget presentation, aspects of which did not find favour with the political opposition.
The parliamentary opposition voted to cut votes and started a new chapter in the country’s history. The courts eventually ruled that the job of preparing the budget was the government’s. The parliamentary opposition, therefore, has no power to cut. It could vote against the entire budget but it cannot vote selectively.
This is not likely to happen again, given the court ruling but one gets the distinct impression that the parliamentary opposition is waiting to pounce on anything that appears out of line. With its power, the opposition is effectively stymieing certain moves by the government. There is a close eye on money and even the most innocuous request attracts the eagle eye of financial analysts who focus on government spending.
And this is to be expected. In the run up to the November 2011 elections, there were numerous reports of corruption. Guyana slipped on the international ladder that measures corruption-it is called a corruption index. The opposition zeroed in on this and as the representative of the larger section of the society, decided to question every expenditure.
Certainly to a government not accustomed to answering questions about its financial dealings this was bound to create rancour. This rancour continues to this day and has spread to other areas of the national assembly.
But this need not be. Human communication is one of the greatest gifts of mankind. There is no problem that cannot be resolved by way of dialogue. In the past, issues were negotiated beforehand between the political parties, so that when they were taken to parliament there was often easy passage.
Today, the government says that it is committed to dialogue with the opposition. It says that it has attempted to resolve many of the burning issues with the various opposition groups but that every time an agreement was reached the opposition would back away from that agreement.
Indeed, there have been many instances of such action but these should not lead to any attempt to halt dialogue.
Donald Ramotar initiated what has become known as the Inter Party Parliamentary talks. For more than a year these have not gone anywhere. The meetings have been sporadic. Somebody does not have a commitment to dialogue.
We are certain that if a serious attempt is made to talk to each other the confusion that prevails in the National Assembly would be a thing of the past. Leaders must lead and not spend their time trying on one upsmanship.

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