Removal of James McAllister from Parliament is vindictive and undemocratic

Dec 08, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) condemns the removal of James McAllister, an Opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) Member of Parliament (MP), from the Parliament of Guyana by Opposition and People’s National Congress (PNC) Leader, Mr. Robert Corbin.

McAllister and a group of senior members, led by then Vice Chairman Vincent Alexander, unsuccessfully challenged Corbin for the leadership at the party’s 2007 internal elections. They were subsequently placed before a disciplinary committee, which CGID viewed as a kangaroo court. His removal was therefore dictatorial and vindictive.

The arbitrary removal of a Member of Parliament who was elected by the people overturns the will of the electorate and is an assault on democracy.

CGID believes that the recall of James McAllister provides a keen insight into the PNC’s domineering approach to governing and antipathy for democratic values. No party with such mentality must ever again be entrusted with governing Guyana.

On December 3, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, announced that Mr. Robert Corbin, the Representative of the List of Candidates for the PNC, on December 2, officially notified him that McAllister had been recalled. Consequently, Ramkarran declared McAllister’s seat vacant, in accordance with Article 156(3) (c) of the Constitution – the Constitutional Amendment Act of 2007.

Known as the “The Recall Legislation,” this amendment was enacted by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government in 2007, with support from Mr. Corbin and a forced majority of his party’s MPs. The legislation enables the Representatives of Parliamentary parties to direct the Speaker of the National Assembly to declare a seat vacant once a party expresses a lost confidence in a member.

As CGID’s Director of Communications, Jevon Suralie noted recently before the enactment of this Bill that CGID expressed serious reservations about its undemocratic provisions. We recommended to the PNC that the Bill be amended to require that, upon a declaration of no confidence in a MP by a Representative of a party’s list, the Speaker should cause a special election to be held in the constituency which that MP represents. This would allow the people to be the final arbiters of the recall of their elected representatives.

However, the PNC never even considered this proposal.
Did President Jagdeo and Mr. Corbin concoct this legislation to excise independent-minded MPs who do not toe their parties’ line or follow the dictates of their leaders? Precisely, it was enacted after Corbin was challenged for the leadership in 2007, so that Vincent Alexander and his fellow challengers would not pull off a Raphael Trotman and Kemraj Ramjattan. Both attorneys Trotman and Ramjattan, then PNC and PPP MPs respectively, left their respective parties in 2005 to form the AFC, but refused to resign their seats in Parliament.

McAllister’s removal is petty and spiteful, visionless and uninspiring. Mr. Corbin assumed the leadership in 2002 after Mr. Hoyte died of a heart attack. Since then, the party underwent a serious split in 2005, leading to the departure of scores of young leaders, including Raphael Trotman, a formidable young leader who was being groomed by Hoyte to assume the reins of leadership. Trotman then co-founded the Alliance For Change (AFC).

In the 2006 general elections, the PNC lost five seats in Parliament to the AFC. It also lost several Local Government seats to both the AFC and the ruling PPP.

As if allegations of a “compromised” 2007 party election hadn’t done enough damage to the PNC’s image generally, since then, a leadership culture of undemocratic practices has become more entrenched in the party.

Mr. Corbin has not conceptualized or articulated a new vision as an alternative to the incumbent PPP government. Thus, he has lost the confidence of a majority of his constituents and members.

If the PNC hopes to remain a relevant force in Guyanese politics, it must seek new leadership, broaden its political base into a genuine, formidable, multi-ethnic party, recruit a new generation of bright, young leaders, and articulate a new vision for modernity and development in Guyana.
I could not have been more candid.

Rickford Burke

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Removal of James McAllister from Parliament is vindictive and undemocratic

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