How can our leaders be trusted when their words are not worth the paper they are printed on?

Jul 20, 2009 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The National Stakeholder’s Meeting under the Chairmanship of the President on March 12, 2008, came to the consensus (the so-called Bourda Accord) that six Constitutional Commissions would be formed to enhance our governance framework in Guyana. The evidence to date is a sad reflection on the quality of our leadership. This is the implementation rate:

1. Public Procurement Commission – not formed

2. Ethnic Relations Commission – up and running under Bishop Edghill (great organisation that has done some good work)

3. Human Rights Commission – not formed

4. Women and Gender Equity Commission – constituted on May 22, 2009 (11 months behind schedule)

5. Indigenous People Commission – not formed

6. Rights of the Child Commission – constituted on May 14, 2009 (11 months behind schedule)

Look at the performance above, are we really serious about our future as a country when one year after the deadline, we are still running around with no clear plan on when we are going to conclude the commitments made to the people of Guyana. How can a people trust their leaders when their words are not even worth the paper they are printed on?

In my previous writings, I made it clear that Guyana biggest developmental challenge is its social cohesion (not the side issued like Low Carbon Strategy). All the Low Carbon Initiatives will go to zero if the brothers in Buxton or Den Amstel do not feel that they have ownership in the Guyanese system. This is why I firmly believe the quicker the PNCR moves off the scene; the better it will be for Guyana since they continue to mislead significant segments of the Guyanese society with their covert racist agenda. Guyana does not need extremists, it needs practical project managers, it needs leaders who can inspire the people, and it needs leaders who can lead by example.

Guyana must fix its foundations first before we can present our case to the world. These six Commissions can go a far way in helping us to fix our foundation and have the “bolted-on” benefit of giving non-political stakeholders (Civil Society) an opportunity to support the Governance process in vital areas such as:

1. Public procurement

There are serious concerns with our procurement system and it would be best to dispel that perception by the urgent formation of the Public Procurement Commission. If Cheddi Jagan was alive, this would have been a done deal. Therefore, why are the inheritors of his legacy mocking around and playing politics with the core values of the father of the nation – lean, clean, mean, transparency, accountability? Do they not agree with his belief system anymore? Is it OK in Guyana today to abrogate privileges such as single sourcing of very large, multi-year, non-emergency, long term contracts without following the letter of the law?

2. Human rights

I do not subscribe to the political persuasion of the likes of Mark Benschop or Lincoln Lewis, but their recent arrest for a peaceful, public protest clearly revealed to me that “Burnham is back”. Do we not have a right to express ourselves peacefully and publicly anymore in Guyana? The official who authorised this arrest is either out to embarrass the Government or is clearly on a dictatorial attitudinal path. My elders like Komal Chand, Nanda

Gopaul, Lloyd Daniels, Gordon Todd and Charles Sampson (in Linden) did not fight for these freedoms for the state to erode it today. The people and the press have the right to question their leaders without fear or favour and can use peaceful protest as a method of questioning. Is Guyana now in the space where law abiding citizens have to fear the bandits as well as the police? Who then is there to protect and serve the law abiding citizens? Hugo Chavez?

3. Indigenous right

Our indigenous people have always been the most abused in Guyana, but the time has arrived for these people to pursue aggressively their rights as an equal partner in the Guyana nation building process by taking greater responsibility for their lives. Credit must go to the PPP for all the hard work they have done in repositioning these people into the right space. This Commission can facilitate “new-build” on this foundation and it is an injustice to the original people of Guyana to have this opportunity delayed. Abuse of the Indigenous people, will always be there, but with a Commission like this one on their side, it creates the mechanism for them to put more sets of feet down and move forward as a collective.

I am confident that the poor and the working class have lost power since the Jagans left the Office of the President. However, this situation has created an opportunity for a critical mass of leaders within the PPP, the AFC, and GAP/ROAR to regain that lost ground (well the PNC is floating around out there and very lost so let us keep them out of this). The time is coming in 2011, when the working class must regain power and all the “sweet heart” deals with the “special interest” groups must be banished from our public system. The special interest have raped Guyana enough and it is the responsibility of the PPP, the AFC, GAP/ROAR and the righteous members of Civil Society to put systems in place to prevent this raping from continuing. A good starting point is the delivery of the commitment made at the National Stakeholder Meeting on March 12, 2008 (already one year behind schedule)

Sasenarine Singh

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