Communication is the way of a civilized people

Jan 11, 2009 Features / Columnists

The question of whether political interest supersedes that of the country is a serious problem, so serious that the very people who vote for the politicians are often caught up in the dilemma.

When the elections are over, people all across the country, in every community including those that have special political interests, invariably rely on the elected party to do the various things that they feel necessary.

It is for this reason that a government proclaims itself as one for all the people and no government has ever continued community development in a partisan manner.

Knowing this, the Jagdeo administration is always keen to hold consultations with the opposition and to this end, invited the Opposition leader for talks on a range of issues.

Consultations are nothing new and have actually been going on for a long time. Dr Cheddi Jagan, on being elected to the Presidency, held talks with Mr. Desmond Hoyte who was then leader of the opposition.

The consultations continued between President Jagdeo and Mr. Hoyte and they achieved many things, one of which had led to the halting of the madness that prevailed in the area of television. There was the establishment of the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting and the issue of access for political parties to the state media.

In consultations with Mr. Corbin there were also achievements, all to the national good. For example, when Suriname insisted on claiming Guyana’s territory off the shores, the government consulted and eventually, as a result of those consultations fielded a team that took the matter to an international tribunal. Some of the members of the local team came from the opposition party.

Guyana was justified in taking the claim to the international tribunal and the country benefited. No one can blame the government for failing to engage the opposition in meaningful consultation and the fruits of such consultations have been evident.

There were consultations on consultation reforms and these have been passed in the National Assembly. President Jagdeo agreed to the change that limits the presidency to two terms. Who can say that the consultations are not meaningful?

Because of the previous successes President Jagdeo invited Mr. Corbin for other consultations and it was as a result of consultations that the state dropped all charges against treason accused Mark Benschop. Full credit should go to Mr. Corbin because he was the person who kept raising the issue with President Jagdeo during their meetings.

Last year, there were more consultations ranging from appointments to the judiciary to aspects of community development. There was no agreement on the appointment of a Chancellor of the Judiciary but there was also no objection to the temporary appointment of a Chief Justice.

There were other issues and the way seemed clear that there would have been other meaningful changes to national life. However, after the congress of the People’s National Congress Reform, something went wrong because the consultations were only engaged for minor things.

It would seem that the membership of that party was not happy at the political collaboration; they wanted agitation which for many, only disrupts national life and affects development. But what is there to warrant protest? The economic conditions that visit the country affect every individual regardless of political persuasion…

When the prices rose the government did not single out its supporters for relief; the introduction of the value added tax that is helping the country is facing every Guyanese and has nothing to do with politics; the move to have the cost of public transportation slashed was not intended for any single political group.

When the cost of some things rose last year, there was a protest of sorts that kept changing focus. Yet, many of the things that led to the protest could have been solved by way of dialogue and the government was prepared to engage in the dialogue.

Perhaps the opposition party needs to show its supporters that it is militant and is ready to protest for anything, even for the heavy rains that are plaguing the country at this time.

The haste to blame the government should be carefully examined and those who seem to relish protests should understand that communication is often the best means of achieving one’s ends.

There is now talk about shared governance. If the political parties cannot now talk about simple things, can they then help manage a government under conditions that ensure forced dialogue?

Such failings have been noted in many countries, not least among them Zimbabwe where the move toward shared government is collapsing.