Another consultation done true PPP style

Sep 12, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The recent consultations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was carried out true to PPP’s style.
It is not uncommon for the PPP leadership to make important decisions and then consult its membership.

This is what I suppose they mean by democratic centralism, a principle the party proudly claims it abides by. It is also an organisational principle embedded in the constitution of the party, which is guided by Marxism Leninism.

Indeed President Jagdeo ascended to the Presidency in the first instance by the ‘PolitBoro’, that is the 15-man Executive which holds absolute power within the organisation, taking the decision to replace Mrs. Jagan who resigned because of ill health, with Jagdeo.

The day after this decision, party big wigs were sent to the ‘grass root’ of the membership to ask for consent, although the date for the inauguration of the new president was already set.

So President Jagdeo at the ‘consultations’ on this EPA seemingly already made his decision on what he proposed to do.

He called for a ‘goods only’ agreement and has shown by all indications that this is what he will ask the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting that is scheduled to meet this week, to consent to, in the name of the Guyanese people, majority of whom were not present at the consultations.

It seems that the consultations were hurriedly held so that detailed discussions involving representation of a broad cross section of Guyanese were not present.

History has shown that time and again when it comes to making major decisions, past and present governments have made decisions and later regretted it.

The IMF agreement was one such agreement that made the lives of Guyanese miserable and the effects are still felt today. Not that the then PNC government had too much choices, it was compelled to sign or ‘die’.

But the fanfare that was made to sign this agreement served good propaganda purposes to elevate to prominence the Burnham government within certain sections of the Guyanese society.Is the fanfare now being raised about the EPA being made for the same purpose?

Let’s see how strong our present government is in the upcoming battle they face against the Europeans.
May God be with our President when he faces the test of time at the upcoming Summit.
Anthony Baptiste

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