Dear Editor,
In light of calls by British High Commissioner Andrew Ayre (SN, Feb 12) and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign Office Tobias Ellwood (SN, Feb 9) to end the prorogation of parliament, I urge the three parties to put aside their differences and work out a compromise to recall parliament. I also appeal to the business community, religious and civic groups to put pressure on the three parties to iron out their differences so that parliament can be reconvened as soon as practical. Although the President has given an assurance that he would dissolve parliament soon, every effort should be made to work out a compromise among the parties so they can attend to the peoples’ business. I endorse the views expressed by the British High Commissioner and the Foreign Office Minister. Yes, the democratic process needs to be carried out, but it involves active participation from all three parties. There is no urgent need for an election, especially since it is likely to throw up anther hung parliament. For once, can the parties and their leadership do something for the nation rather than acting in their own self-interest? A last minute effort to bring the parties together would not hurt democracy or further delay any planned election.
All three parties might need to rethink their hardened strategy. What is required of them is the scaling down of personal ambitions, and a readiness for the opposition and government to be more accommodating to one another.
Dr Henry Jeffrey, a critic of the PPP, penned a month ago that it would not be prudent to announce a date for election before the Mashramani celebrations as it would affect the celebratory mood of the population and the economy.
Businessmen are also not in favour of dissolving the parliament before Mash, fearing the impact on business. David Patterson of the AFC and Basil Patterson of the PNC (APNU) are reported in the media to have said they need six weeks to negotiate an alliance to contest the elections. That would take us past Mash anyway. So the two opposition parties and the PPP don’t want an election now anyway. All three are playing for time. So instead of all the demands for an election and the gamesmanship, the parties could agree to a minimum programme that would address some of the more compelling problems facing the nation.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
