TOO MANY TOP ELECTED OFFICIALS HOLD LANDED IMMIGRANT VISAS

Oct 12, 2008 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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– It is imperative to sink or swim with the people

By Sheila Holder

At last reckoning it was gauged that far too many of the top brass in the PPP/C currently serving as sitting Members of Parliament and in the Central Committee of the party possess either a US, Canadian or British landed immigrant visa card or passport. This is also true of some among the very top leadership and prominent members of the PNCR executive.

In contrast, none in the leadership of the Alliance For Change (AFC) – not leader Raphael Trotman! Not the Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan! Or I possess either an immigrant visa card or a passport for any foreign country.

We, therefore, share with the large majority of the Guyanese people the fact of having no exit plan that would allow us to run from Guyana if the going gets too hot. The imperative being – we either sink or swim with the people.

This is the powerful impetus that has served the AFC well, over the three years of its existence, in withstanding the treachery, and the discriminatory and exclusionary tactics being collaboratively applied against the party by the PPP/C and the PNCR and others.

Article 155(1) (a) of the Constitution of Guyana on the disqualification for election as members of Parliament states as follows:

1. “No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who –
(a) is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience to a foreign power or state;

Without getting into the constitutional ramifications vis-à-vis those Members of Parliament who hold foreign passports in light of this constitutional provision, I believe the principals of the AFC, as partners in the local political process, could be justified in expressing apprehension in elected politicians who have one foot in Guyana and the other in some other part of the world.

SIMILAR CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION DISQUALIFIED JAMAICAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
It may be recalled that in Jamaica, not so long ago, a similar constitutional provision led to a High Court ruling on the eligibility of such Members of Parliament to serve in the Jamaican legislature.

The fact that in Jamaica this revelation caused the resignation of several MPs from the government benches, thereby seriously eroding the Jamaican government’s parliamentary majority, is testimony of how this situation could impact both the PPP/C and the PNCR were we a more law abiding and litigious people.

In view of this, and despite globalization which tends to deemphasize nationalism, the AFC can boldly claim to be more nationalistic and committed to this country than many leading lights in both the PPP/C and the PNCR.

A LOSS OF CONFIDENCE IN GUYANA
The argument could be rightly advanced that, if some political leaders situated in the government and in the main opposition party have gotten to the point where they believe they need to take up residency and put down roots in a foreign country, clearly they are signalling a loss of confidence in the future of Guyana or at the least a future not as bright as the other country of choice.

And if as major political players holding constitutional office they consider the future of Guyana thus, surely the people they profess to represent have grounds to question their commitment.

THE CALL TO BUILD TRUST RINGS HOLLOW
It was the leadership of the PPP/C who have been speaking about the need to build trust. What trust are they demonstrating in the future of this country when many among them have one foot in and the other foot out of Guyana?

And what trust should the Guyanese people repose in their government and main opposition party that embrace leading figures, appointing them to strategic positions in government and in their party when they are half committed to this country?

Perhaps this explains the lack of political will to do what is necessary to move this country out of the doldrums that is so often evident in the local political environment.

Perhaps, therein lies the basis for the self interested prism through which successive Guyana governments have viewed the needs of the people and the problems of the country.

As the avaricious financial meltdown in the USA spreads to other parts of the world, it might be appropriate for Guyanese politicians and indeed the Guyanese people to contemplate the words of that famous national song, “My Native Land” by M.A. Cossou.

Oh I care not that others rave over fair lands afar,
Where silvern lakes and placid streams mirror the evening star;
I care not though their wealth be great, their scenery be grand,
For none so fair as can compare with my own native Land.

Their sylvan vales and rippling brooks may charm me when I roam,
But what of that? No brooks and vales can steal my love of home;
Where I in childhood used to play, and where the old folks rest
Must be to me, where’er I be, the dearest and the best.

And though I rove o’er hill and dale and brave old Neptune’s foam,
O’er crags and rocks and mossy dells, I still will turn me home;
For when at length I come to die, I want no gilded tomb,
Just let me rest within thy breast, where thy sweet flowers bloom,
Where thy sweet flowers bloom.

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