President Ramotar has announced his intention to re-examine the Government’s future relationship with the Opposition after its refusal to support the anti-money laundering amendment bill last Thursday in the National Assembly. It is believed that the intention of the President is to further reduce the already limited contact between the two. But the reason for the impasse is in fact the lack of communication. This being so, a greater degree of engagement is likely to produce a more positive result. However, the tone of the President suggests that short shrift would be given to any such idea.
But it has worked elsewhere. At the present time the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats in Germany are engaged in discussions to form a ‘grand coalition’ due to the recent election results. The two parties have fundamental, ideological differences in political and economic philosophies and are bitterly divided on many issues. However, no one doubts that their current discourse will eventually find common ground as it did in Angela Merkel’s first term. The Chancellor, like President Ramotar, can decide to go it alone. But she knows that Germany will suffer political instability which will harm its economy if she does and therefore prefers a government in which she would get some, though not all, of what she wanted in what may well be her last term.
The philosophical differences between the PPP and PNC/APNU are far less. The divisions today are on the marginalization and corruption, which are denied by the Government. Measures to curb these are far less difficult to negotiate than ideological differences. In Guyana, statesmanlike discourse above the din on these issues, on the anti-money laundering legislation, or on
