Parlamento suspendido: privados y sindicatos se ofrecen para mediar
Private sector, labour unions willing to mediate
Its early days yet but Guyana’s Private Sector and several labour organizations have expressed a willingness to serve as mediators in the ongoing conflict and parliamentary dispute between the government and opposition that led to Parliament’s suspension on Monday last.
These organizations have also expressed support for dialogue as a means of settling the differences between the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), the Alliance For Change (AFC), and the main opposition parliamentary party A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Persaud said discussions concerning the mediation of possible dialogue between the opposition parties and Government were held during a recent stakeholders meeting with President Donald Ramotar.
He said that the Commission to be willing to serve as mediators since it strongly believes that there is an urgent need to bring an end to the ongoing conflict between the three parliamentary parties.
In fact, Chairman of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Clinton Williams expressed disgust at the current situation.
“We don’t like what is happening”, Williams said with regard to the current state of affairs.
He said his organization believes that compromising is to only way forward and is willing to mediate any future dialogue between the two rivalries.
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Federation of Independent Trade Union of Guyana (FITUG)Kenneth Joseph also said his organization is willing to mediate.
He too believes that there is need for compromise between the political parties to move the country forward.
On November 10, President Ramotar proclaimed a prorogation of Parliament to allow more time and space for dialogue between the Opposition parties and Government.
The Opposition parties in response are adamant that there will be no dialogue.
British High Commissioner to Guyana calls for “swift resumption” of Parliament
One week after President Donald Ramotar suspended Parliament to avoid a no-confidence motion, Britain’s High Commission to Guyana, Andrew Ayre, has called for the swift resumption of the legislature.
Ayre told reporters following the opening of a workshop on Anti-money laundering on Monday that “Parliament should re-sit in Guyana and get on with the business of taking this country forward.”
“The UK believes that the central pillar of democracy is parliament and, therefore, parliament should re-sit with the shortest possible delay,” he said.
Meanwhile, the main opposition group, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has called on the nation to resist the imposition of a one-party dictatorship in Guyana.
In a release on Monday, the opposition also refuted allegations that that dialogue between the Opposition and the Government had been discontinued.
“The APNU calls on all Guyanese not to accept this denial of democracy and not to allow the PPP/C to implant a ‘one-party’ dictatorship in Guyana,” the release stated.
A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the minority Alliance for Change (SFC) control 33 of the 65 seats in the Parliament and according to Ramotar, opposition legislators used the one-seat majority to stifle Guyana’s development.
