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PPP not closing door on giving Opposition ministerial positions
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, is not ruling out offering any ministerial positions to the Opposition, if his party gets elected
The Opposition said it is not ruling out anything when it comes to a more inclusive government.
Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, appearing Wednesday on Kaieteur Radio’s inaugural Political Show, was grilled as to what extent he would consider as part of the reforms.
His party, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), of which he is also the General Secretary, is preparing for general and regional elections thanks to a successful December 21 no-confidence motion that was tabled.
The vote was taken right up to the Caribbean Court of Justice which deemed the vote carried and thus the need for fresh elections in keeping with the Constitution of Guyana.
For a number of years now with the country voting along race lines and PPP taking almost half of the votes, there have been increasing calls for a different type of government…one that will also include the Opposition more in the decision-making process.
There have been different models touted.
According to Jagdeo, who served 12 years as president before his term ended in 2011, the door will not be shut on even offering a few ministerial positions.
However, Jagdeo noted that over the years, his administrations have been working on more inclusivity on a number of fronts.
It was disclosed that back in the early 2000s, the PPP government launched a paper – “Working Together For Inclusive Governance”, which focused on building trust.
Hinting the offering ministerial positions may be challenging as it is all about trust at the Cabinet level, Jagdeo stressed that there were changes, also at the Constitutional level which increased the voice of the opposition on a number of fora.
At the Parliament level, there were four standing committees established with agreements reached to rotate the chairpersons.
Parliament was given powers so that ministers could be summoned to answer for their policies.
There were also a number of rights commission established including the Ethnic Relations Commission which consists of representatives of a wide cross-section of civil society.
Also established were service commissions which took the power out the hands of the President.
According to Jagdeo, before those Parliamentary changes, the party in power was almost in total control.
At the Audit Office, it was decided that the reporting would be done to the Public Accounts Committee and not to the Ministry of Finance.
“We are still open. I said at Babu Jaan we are working more at inclusiveness.”
Looking forward, Jagdeo whose party lost the 2015 elections after 23 years in power, is pushing for the emerging oil and gas sector to be tackled in a non-political and non-partisan way.
While Jagdeo is barred constitutionally for running for president, he is not blocked from being a candidate for his party.
While Jagdeo is not saying what he has in mind, he is clear on one thing…he wants to be able to make decisions.
He had retired in 2011 but came back to take over his party in 2016 after that elections loss.
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