President Ramotar placing emphasis on achieving political coherence
THE focus of President Donald Ramotar will be placed on achieving political coherence in moving forward with the development of the country, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday.

Speaking at his regular post-Cabinet media briefing, in Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown, Luncheon underscored the importance of this “cohesion” with all the parliamentary political parties.
He said President Ramotar’s series of ongoing meetings with the parliamentary political parties attests to its importance in his work programme.
Alluding to the mechanism that will allow for consensus in moving forward, Luncheon noted that a tripartite body, comprising of two representatives from each of the parliamentary political parties is being formed to assume the responsibilities, with specific emphasis on priority issues.
“The tripartite body being formed has assumed those responsibilities, the modus and submissions are anticipated to be made by parliamentary parties… two representatives from the three parties would meet and they would commence work on the prioritised issues,” the HPS stated.
According to him, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has already submitted the names of its representatives, who include himself and Advisor on Governance to the President, Ms. Gail Teixeira and are awaiting the names of the other candidates before any progress can be made.
Tripartite body
“We are yet to be provided with names from other parties. The submission has been received from one and we are waiting to have initial steps concluded so that the contribution of the tripartite body to building consensus and addressing issues that can impair the way forward, could be resolutely dealt with,” Luncheon explained.
He pointed out that in the forward movement, President Ramotar’s focus will also be results orientation, monitoring and evaluation.
In addition, Luncheon said there were several other areas of concern which were brought to the fore, during the meetings between President Ramotar and his Cabinet colleagues, among them the post elections protest action taken by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) supporters, the boycott call, its open racist appeal and the professionalism of media practitioners.
Luncheon declared, “The spectre of post elections political violence has been resurrected since the declaration (of the results), the ante is slowly being raised by APNU protests and the media organised diatribe against the Government, personalities in the executive and supporters of the PPP/C Administration…those meetings noted some manifestation of the challenges and the way in which those challenges were evolving. Particular attention was paid to the street protests and the night vigils and recognition that comprehensive efforts that would be needed and would have to be maintained to constrain rising anticipation about the advent of historic PNC/R now APNU post election behaviour.”
Referring to the impact of calls for boycotting certain business entities, the HPS emphasised that, coming out of the meetings, it was also recognised that “efforts will have to be effectively and unambiguously made to distance the body politic from this perverse form of political behavior.”
Continuing, Luncheon reiterated that the meetings the Head of State held with his Cabinet colleagues and those with the parliamentary political parties and leaders are in recognition of the importance of thoughtful engagements during this period and also the important role of Parliament, civil society and other forward thinking personalities in the society.
Excerpts from the Guyana Chronicle