The meeting between President Granger and Opposition Leader Jagdeo yielded only a minor concession from the latter. He agreed that the PPP would only serve on a committee on the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy and not on the other proposed committees that would address national issues of importance. The reason, Mr Jagdeo complained, is that the government cannot expect PPP’s cooperation when it was victimizing public servants because of perceived political support for the PPP. President Granger has denied this allegation but at the same time expressed hope that the opposition would eventually decide in favour of a higher level of co-operation. He described the meeting with Mr Jagdeo as “friendly” and said that the latter had proffered useful ideas relating to financial matters.
President Granger’s overtures to the opposition and what appears to be a genuine effort to create a regime of constructive collaboration, are not going to succeed. Until there are structural reforms in our political system which institutionalize negotiation and compromise between political parties,
