PNCR leader Robert Corbin says shared governance appears to be the only way forward and it must be discussed and implemented before the next national elections.

"Let's face it comrades, the Westminster system has not worked and indications are it will never work in this country," he declared in a speech to the party's 14th biennial congress Friday.

"In view of the reluctance of the PPP to engage on this matter we propose that all stakeholders in Guyana who are of like mind begin that discussion now."

And he entreated the congress to authorise an unconditional offer for a "working understanding with any political party, any political organisation, any social organisation, and any non governmental organisation; any members or groups, even from within the Peoples Progressive Party, who are willing to negotiate, in good faith, the details of our platform for the transformation of the country."

"The question is whether we have the vision and the will to find permanent solutions, instead of bandaid solutions, to cover the wounds..."

And it was out of recognition of this fact that representatives of political parties and other stakeholders of Guyana were invited to the opening session of the congress. But he said it is not good enough to pay lip service to peace and, at the same time, practice and encourage injustice.

He declared that there must be justice in all endeavors and areas, from the award of contracts to the provision of social services, from the criteria for allocating public resources to the manner in which house lots are distributed and, in the manner in which communities are identified for developmental works.

He noted that the Sophia housing area has remained for years without roads, water, electricity, and other social services.

But with an impending election he said promises are made to provide these basic facilities.

He compared the housing scheme with the one at Diamond, which started only a few months ago, but had all the basic facilities even before any building had been erected or any family housed.

He also said everyone deserves the right to conduct their lives in peace without the threat of bandits and gangsters violating their families.

"The targeting of innocent human beings, particularly our Indo-Guyanese brothers and sisters, for despicable acts of rape and violence is destroying the very fabric of our individual and collective humanity. These obscenities must be brought to an end."

Corbin reasoned that cohesion has eluded the country because of the political system and culture that have conditioned too many to exploit the differences and distinctions for partisan political gain.

He considered it an enormous credit to ordinary citizens that the resentment and frustration that such a situation has generated have not caused civil strife of any large or sustained magnitude.

While he urged national cohesion, he pointed out that it could not be a superficial blending of people of various ethnic or interest groups.

He said the idea of national cohesion has to include addressing the concerns of every ethnic or interest group and it must be discussed with frankness.

The Amerindian land issue, he said, should be addressed just as the African issue of reparations and claims for ancestral lands as well as issues raised by the Indian community about their security concerns.

The infrastructure, security forces, public services were among the areas he identified for development in order for the country to repair its capacity to compete in the new global economic environment.

He also outlined economic and social policies from the proposed platform.

He said the methodology for arriving at social and economic policies demands intense consultation.

He proposed that a PNCR-led coalition should undertake to negotiate and implement, with all the economic stakeholders in the country, the basis of a consensual Economic Policy Framework.

He added that the party's desire to change the system of governance, however, demands that it does not adopt a dogmatic position that it has all the answers for Guyana. It is for this reason that he said there needed to be national dialogue with all stakeholders. And he said the party must make it clear to the nation that it stands ready and committed to a platform of shared governance and inclusivity.

"We must make it clear that we are willing to share executive authority and to explore and negotiate imaginative forms of governance...to ensure that the goal of full inclusivity is realised," he said.

Corbin added that this is not a new idea given the recommendations in the Chapter 3 of the National Develop-ment Strategy (NDS), which suggests that a prerequisite for success is a change in a system of governance.

Thus he considered that the idea of shared/inclusive governance is not an invention of the PNCR merely to get into government through the backdoor as has been suggested by government spokesmen.