President Donald Ramotar yesterday said that in the next few days he will invite the combined opposition to talks on the way forward following his suspension of Parliament.
Both the main opposition APNU and the AFC have previously said they will not be entertaining talks with Ramotar outside of Parliament and have accused him of proroguing Parliament simply to avoid a motion of no-confidence against his government.
Ramotar stressed yesterday that international mediation will not be looked at as yet as he first preferred to exhaust local measures before seeking outside help. If all methods fail, then Ramotar said he will no doubt call elections and let the populace decide on the government.
“In a matter of days I will be inviting the opposition in for us to begin the dialogue… I would say that hopefully when the emotions would have been removed from this, that good sense and maturity will prevail because this is our business as politicians, we talk to each other we have to work with each other,” he told a press conference, held at Office of the President, just an hour before the opposition was set to hold a nearby rally over the suspension of Parliament.
Ramotar said that he was familiar with many reports that the combined opposition were adamant that they were not going to have talks. However, he said that he viewed this as a “first reaction” and he would give them time to deal with adrenalin rushes and an array emotions, before they decide on what is final.
The President pointed out that, for him, having a record to say that he tried his best but was futile was minute in the overall decision to prorogue Parliament. Instead, he opined that now is a clean starting over point for all sides, as he has put all other failed dialogues and agreements behind him. Said Ramotar, “What I have done, in a way, is take everybody off the hook. Wipe the slate clean and have a possibility of going forward. Again, if we don’t go forward then election is only way forward.”
While the president said that he has a personal timeline in which he will decide when “enough is enough,” he did not make it public. Instead, he said that he will wait to see the outcome of talks or lack thereof.
“If things become clear at the early stage, I will (call elections), that is something I will have to determine but let us see how things will evolve,” he stated.
“I do have some time played out in my mind but everything don’t totally depend on me and I don’t want to shut my mind off to any good suggestion that might come to me. While I do have some timelines in my mind, I will still wait to see how things unfold,” he added.
Parliament can be prorogued for up to six months.
Questioned on if he will use regional or international intervention to facilitate talks with the opposition the president stressed that he while he has not ruled out the possibility, he first prefers to exhaust local measures. “I would prefer dealing with our own. My preference is—and I am not opposed to it—but I think it would be good for us as Guyanese to be able to sit down and deal with our issues. I think we should try ourselves first… before we jump to see if need assistance from outside… I am not ruling out these things but my clear preference is for us to deal with it among ourselves,” Ramotar said.
Only yesterday, Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman wrote to the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, asking him to send a delegation to Guyana to intercede in the dispute between the government and the opposition over the proroguing of Parliament.
Advantages
Ramotar defended his decision to prorogue parliament, outlining several rationales for his choice.
He said, “I see, with the choices in front of me, I saw a lot more advantages in proroguing the parliament than dissolving it or going and win the debate in the Parliament and losing the vote, which would have ended up in the dissolution of the Parliament anyway.”
Further, he added, “Prorogations offer a very important opportunity for many people, particularly in the interior, and to many people who have still not been able to get their source documents to get themselves on the electoral roll. This is to enfranchise people as well… particularly so, if we are going to go back to the people to decide on the way forward.”
He maintained that there will be no further prorogation when this six-month period has elapsed. “I have said publicly too that I have no intention of recalling the parliament and having it prorogued again to extend the life of the government and again I repeat that today I will not be doing that,” he emphasised.
The president also challenged claims by Leader of the Opposition David Granger, who has said that talks with the president have ended in stalemate because Ramotar was not open to the views of others.
“What he has said about me I could probably say about him that it is not me, it is him… every agreement that we have made, and I would give it to him that there have not been much, but it was us making the concession,” he said.
“We had agreed that we would raise the pensions on his request and I have to give him a lot of political kudos there… but when he agreed that we would work towards phasing out the (power) subsidies that we would have unified subsidies all over the country with the Linden subsidy, in less than 12 hours he reneged on it,” he charged.
Ramotar said that he does not believe that at this point it would do any side well in blame trading over past issues and remained confident that a mutually beneficial agreement will be had between his government and the opposition.
“I hope that long before that we can find enough grounds to recall the parliament and deal with the issues here… but if there is absolutely no way that that will go forward, then we will have to pave the way for elections,” he said.
