The government, parliamentary parties and representatives of civil society have agreed to support the national security sector plan and its various components and to tabulate all recommendations for examination at another meeting.

The agreement, according to a joint release from the national stakeholders who met with President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Office of the President yesterday, said that all the recommendations would be examined at another meeting to be held in two weeks. The release said that the stakeholders met to discuss the national security plan and to “bring their considered views to address the serious escalation of crime”.

According to President of the Guyana Bar Association (GBA), Kashir Khan, the tone of the meeting which started at noon and ended after 7 pm was cordial. He said that getting all the parliamentary political parties to arrive at a consensus was a significant step forward from the civil society point of view.

One of the functions of civil society, he said, was not to drive this process but to aid in facilitating an enabling environment to get the political parties to discus with civil society matters of national security as well as other related issues. The meeting, he said, was a significant step forward, given the acrimony that existed just a week ago with one political party not wanting to sign a communiqu