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A NO-LOSE SITUATION FOR THE GOVERNMENT

Nov 22, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

 

The opposition parties are between a rock and a hard place. They are under pressure to give support to the telecommunication legislation that is before the National Assembly, because such support is necessary for liberalization of the sector, and for it to be regulated by modern regulations rather than merely through political edict.
However, they feel that if they give their consent to the legislation, the government will use the powers within the legislation to ensure that its friends and cronies take command of the telecommunication sector which is no longer just about telephones, but has evolved into an integrated web of services, including broadband and cable television.
There is an urgent need for liberalization of the telephone sector. But there is equally a need for a fair and transparent system to govern the issuance of licences and the operations of ICT services such as internet and cable television.
It is now possible to bundle all of these various services. Thus, for example, for a standard fee, customers can sign up with an ICT provider and from one single line receive cable television, internet and telephone services. Previously, they would have been required to pay three service providers for each of these services. This is a prime example of the sort of power that can be placed into the hands of those who, through political favouritism, have been able to get a head start over others and more so considering that others are being denied licences under the existing laws.
The problem facing the opposition is that if they jettison the legislation that is before the National Assembly, they will stand in the way of further liberalization which is known will reduce the cost of services to consumers. They will also hold back the modernization of the sector as well as to improve its regulation. However they feel that if they give their support to the proposed legislation, they will be handing the government an unrestricted permit to licence whoever the government feels should be licenced.
The alternative is therefore for the opposition to not approve the proposed legislation. But what this means is that the government will under the existing and archaic laws use the powers granted under those laws to licence its friends and cronies.
The opposition is therefore in a no-win situation. The government is in a win-win situation. It is thus not likely that the government will be inclined towards compromise and much more so considering the souring of relations between the two camps following the inexplicable and reckless decision of the combined opposition to not approve anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism legislation, in keeping with Guyana’s international obligations.
The opposition can huff and puff all it wants about control of the telecommunication spectrum. However it votes, it will end up gifting to the government the same powers that it wishes to avoid the government having.
The reason for the opposition finding itself in this bind, I directly related to the approach that it has taken towards the government. While it is known that the government is stubborn, the opposition has acted too often in bad faith in dealing with the government, with the result that political compromise has become a last resort rather than in the present dispensation, a preferred way of doing business between the government and the opposition.
What is needed is a return to certain basic principles. That will be the subject of a forthcoming column.
In the meantime, the status quo will remain. The opposition will kill the proposed telecommunication legislation but its victory will be pyrrhic, because the government does not lose, regardless of the outcome of the vote.

 

 

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