‘No axe to grind’ … PM says has nothing against PPP
AMID the hostility being displayed against him, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo says he has “no axe to grind” with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and stand willing and ready to lead talks on national unity with his old party. Just recently, it was announced by government, their intention to engage the opposition PPP to push a national unity agenda.
However, the Prime Minister was agreed upon by the coalition government as the lead negotiator to engage the PPP – a party which he previously served as a member of for more than 50 years. The PPP rejected this however, offering that the National Unity talks with the government would go “nowhere” if Nagamootoo was to lead the Government’s ticket in this regard. “The PPP wishes to state that if such a move is part and parcel of the so-called ‘fresh approach’ by the APNU+AFC then it is clearly a non-starter and will end up dead in the water. Knowing the dim view the PPP holds of Moses Nagamootoo, the APNU+AFC by insisting that he is their ‘best man’ who will head its team must know that that initiative will go nowhere,” the opposition party said in a statement recently.
Useful partner
However, in an interview with National Communication Network (NCN) earlier this week, PM Nagamootoo reasoned that the PPP could find in him a very “useful partner” since he has been a staunch and consistent advocate for a government of national unity for many years. “I have worked with Cheddi Jagan – the late president in the 70s, on the issue of a national front and a national front government. I worked with the late Dr. Walter Rodney to put a programme in place for a united government and later on it was morphed into what the WPA had called a caretaker government” Nagamootoo told the NCN.
Against this backdrop, which details his credentials, Nagamootoo noted that he has “no axe to grind against the PPP” even while the issue remains one of personality and not one based on issues affecting Guyana. “I would believe what is important now is not personality; we need to move away from that and go into the arena of policy. We need a clear policy objective that says political parties can, and must work together and therefore, when I was named head of the coalition team to meet with the PPP; I wasn’t doing so because I have any animosity or any hatred or hostility for the PPP” the PM assured.
In fact, he revealed that he assumed those responsibilities because it was thought by his colleagues in the APNU+AFC camp that he would be a suitable facilitator to work with a party that he had worked with for over 50 years. But the issue of personality clash, he opined, has been one of the effects of Guyana’s biggest problem, which is the lack of “political unity” and the will to bring about that unity.
This ill, which the PM described as having evaded Guyanese for 50 years of political life as an independent country, should not be a repeated narrative in the next 50 years. As a result, he reasoned that attempts to stymie any move towards national unity, because one might not agree with the selection of a person in the process, reflects the glaring need for political and national unity. But according to him, the solution to Guyana’s problem remains a political one.
He reasoned that it may not be possible to achieve this goal of national unity without constitutional changes which the Government has set out a steering committee to spearhead.
Apart from this, Nagamootoo explained that national unity cannot be achieved if the two opposing parties refuse to work out a programmatic unity approach, which would create space for the two blocs to agree on what are national priorities. Thirdly, he suggested that national unity will not result unless the leadership of the two parties enter into what is called a bipartisan committee.
According to him, a few members from the PPP sharing space with a few members from the APNU+AFC, described as a bipartisan committee, can build consensus between these two blocs before they approach the National Assembly. That way, the culture of “fighting on the floor of the Parliament” will be eroded, he said. Explaining that this process would be required to be executed in stages before it can be operationalised, Nagamootoo related that it cannot happen overnight. “In the beginning former President Bharrat Jagdeo recognised that we need to build trust; he was the one who enunciated the issue of trust and he is the one who is turning around to emphasise distrust. So I believe that the decision to set up a team from the coalition to meet with the PPP is a forward movement. I think President Granger ought to be complimented and celebrated for the fact that he is someone who has been in opposition leader for 23 years and will come forward and say it is time; it is time that we turn a new page and evolve a new attitude that will define the relationship between political parties” Prime Minister Nagamootoo said.
Underscoring the immediate need for “functional cooperation” in this regard, he referenced the “false claims” made by Venezuela with regards to Guyana’s territory, which demands the need for unity in the country. “You don’t need to know who you’re sitting with to talk, you need to know that by the fact of sitting, you’re sending a message” he said. Other members expected to be part of government’s negotiating team includes; Vice Presidents Khemraj Ramjattan and Carl Greenidge, Attorney General Basil Williams, Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Minister of Governance, Raphael Trotman.
