– prime minister welcomes gov’t, opposition dialogue

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo said he is “undaunted” by tactics of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to remove him from the negotiating table between government and opposition, contending that the talks are not about him but about the country’s well-being.
In his weekly column, ‘My Turn’, Nagamootoo addressed the comments of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) leader to the media on Thursday outside the Parliament corridors, where he spoke on the party’s refusal to engage in bi-lateral talks led by the prime minister.

Arrangements for these engagements came about after former United States (US) President Jimmy Carter called Jagdeo earlier this month to query why the PPP refused to meet the government’s extended arm for amicable political talks.
The opposition leader had told Carter that this was due to the prime minister’s absence of a portfolio and his inability to commit the government to decisions.
After relating likewise to President David Granger during their meeting on the nominees for the Police Service Commission and the Public Service Commission last Thursday, the President agreed to lead the talks himself.

TAKING THE HIGH ROAD
In his column, Nagamootoo said Jagdeo harbours a “personal vendetta” against him.
“When I saw the opposition leader sauntering gleefully into Parliament Chambers Thursday last, I thought that he had some good words to share with me after his meeting with President Granger. Instead, he swiped his neck with his right index finger, motioning that someone had cut my throat. Two of his cohorts, basking in radiant smiles, mumbled to me, ‘we threw you under de bus!’

“I was to find out later that the opposition leader had disclosed at the meeting that he would not attend talks if the prime minister remained head of the government’s side. Reminiscent of his infamous ‘cuss-down politics’, he told the media that he couldn’t negotiate binding agreements with me, as I was a ‘lightweight’. President Granger has volunteered to lead the government’s delegation to these talks. Jagdeo walked away with a pyrrhic victory, that he had sidelined me. But talks are not about me. They are cardinal to finding a lasting political solution for Guyana. So I turned my face away from Jagdeo’s infantile tantrums. I let his insults pass. Instead, I welcomed the decision by President Granger to lead the government team. That, for me, was a politically correct move from which Jagdeo would be unable to wriggle out,” he penned.

However, Nagamootoo stated that although disappointed by the opposition’s behaviour, it is the “brutal nature of politics” practised by the PPP to which he has grown accustomed.
He stated, instead, that the record shows that despite him having “major disagreements” with the competing parties throughout his political career, he has always advocated for the ultimate goal of national unity.

He gave examples of such during his earlier political years, noting his canvassing for formal talks between the PPP and the People’s National Congress (PNC) in 1997, during post-elections civil disturbances.

He also highlighted his contributions towards the uniting of the short-lived Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD) and the six-party A Partnership of National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), now government.

OLIVE BRANCH
“When I became prime minister in 2015, I immediately extended an olive branch to the opposition for bipartisan talks and cooperation. The potential opposition talkers instead became my perennial stalkers. I have been called all manner of names and reduced to all types of creepy animals by former Presidents Ramotar and Jagdeo. The PPP leaders have branded me as their nemesis, the arch-enemy who has engineered their downfall and possible political destruction.

“Worse, the attacks are racist as they see me as a ‘neemakaram’, a Hindi pejorative term that literally means ‘traitor’, for selling out to an African-dominated coalition,” he wrote.
Despite this negative reality, the prime minister said he maintains that political engagement is good for Guyana.

He stated, too, that with the country drawing closer to becoming a major oil- and-gas economy, bipartisan cooperation is “strategically important” to ensure that Guyanese can equally benefit from these revenues.
The prime minister said: “I told them [several persons in the PPP’s leadership] that for a major political party to stay away from bi-partisan engagement would be tantamount to betrayal of its constituents.”

Nagamootoo also highlighted Carter as playing a crucial role in Guyana’s return to electoral democracy who, he said, even at 92 continues to “strengthen the fabric of Guyana’s democracy” with his encouragement for bi-lateral talks.
“Though the situation is not as bad as the opposition wants it to be, or even close to its dismal depiction, the intervention of President Carter is important, since it could smooth over any conflicts before the proverbial first shot is fired,” Nagamootoo said.

He added: “Guyana surely needs a fresh wave of political renewal that only visionary leadership could provide. Guyana cannot be stuck forever in the debilitating pastime of opposition for opposition’s sake and the outpourings of an overdose of pessimism and negativity. This is why the opposition has to come to the table to trash out real issues that could help to place us on the solid road towards national unity.”