Can Guyana benefit from a third term for Mr. Jagdeo?

Sep 21, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Just when you thought it was safe to think about the new PPP leader who will emerge in the next two years or how the PPP will lose the 2011 poll, Mr. Raphael Trotman, AFC leader, has put the controversy of a third term for Mr. Jagdeo back on the front burner.

According to Mr. Trotman, the issue is still being actively ventilated in certain political circles. In the discussion of a third term for Mr. Jagdeo, no one has brought up the dimension of its positive implications for the future of democratic governance given that it will take an amendment to the Constitution thus making the input from the PNC valuable.

Before we examine the benefits of another slot of elected authority for Mr. Jagdeo, let us look at the arrogance of those who assume that the PPP will win the next poll. Who says it will?

It was the Amerindian vote that brought the PPP to victory in 2006 even though East Indians persevered with it.

The analyst must take into consideration that the PPP had as its main opposition in 2006 the PNC under Mr. Corbin. Was that a factor that favoured the PPP, especially in the light of the Stanley Ming exodus?

Suppose Mr. Corbin had agreed to step down in favour of Mr. Ming and Mr. Ming had brought admirable names onto the PNC slate?

There is another supposition. What if the Third Force had come on stream? The bitter splits in the opposition must be factored into the analysis when one assesses why the PPP won in 2011.

We don’t know how things will play out in 2011. What if some good faces put up a mighty challenge to the PPP? Also there is the question of the mass migration of East Indians.

Then there is the Roger Khan trial which may create a political hurricane in Guyana that may wash away the PPP’s home.

Advocates of another five years for Mr. Jagdeo are assuming too much. When one thinks of these potential phenomena, then they are arrogant to think that the future of Mr. Jagdeo’s career is assured.

Another dimension of this affair is the role of ambition inside the PPP. Three persons that are strategically placed inside the PPP’s nerve centre are committed to seeking the party’s nomination.

Now their feelings may change in the next year and they may throw their weight behind Mr. Jagdeo but for now, things do not look good for Mr. Jagdeo in terms of getting his party’s approval for 2011.

Having said that, what about the positive effects of a PPP/PNC deal for changing the Constitution to allow Mr. Jagdeo to become President for a third term? Any discussion of this circumstance must centre on the PNC and what it hopes to achieve for itself and its constituencies.

The PNC cannot and will not be that stupid to agree to change the Constitution, knowing fully well that it may not benefit from the arrangement, because in the election it will lose a majority of its seats.

Once the PNC agrees to that two/thirds formula, it knows that it has to get immense political benefits from the transaction because its supporters will be watching.

I will put all my money on a wager that if the PNC simply changes the Constitution to do away with the two-terms limitation, its voters will devastate it at the 2011 elections.

Against this background, the PNC then has no alternative but to demand far-reaching changes to the Constitution that will see a diminution in presidential jurisdiction.

The Guyanese people should not dismiss a confabulation between the PPP and PNC about the third term for Mr. Jagdeo unless it hears what the PNC wants from Mr. Jagdeo. The PNC could be asking for legal changes that may change this country in ways that we all longed for.

In this sense, if giving Mr. Jagdeo a third shot at power means that Guyana will do away with all the legal trappings of authoritarian authority, then the people of this country should give their backing to this impending historic covenant.

Let us briefly look at some of the positives that can accrue. The effective separation of Parliament from the Executive.

The removal of presidential jurisdiction in the appointment of some of the most crucial positions in Guyana like the GRA Head, DPP, Police Commissioner, UG Vice-Chancellor, Auditor-General. The inclusion of non-party people in the Service Commissions to balance party appointees.

A legally independent anti-corruption commission and a legally independent human rights commission whose funding does not depend on the Government’s whims and fancies. Frankly, I doubt the PPP will agree to these changes. Mr. Corbin knows this.

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Can Guyana benefit from a third term for Mr. Jagdeo?

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