Shared governance ahead?

Jan 13, 2010 Editorial

For almost half a century, there has been a body of opinion that only a government comprised of representatives of the major sections of Guyanese society can bring peace, stability and sustained progress to our beleaguered land. This conclusion was not based only on our own sad experience of “democratic” politics playing out in an electorate split along ethnic lines, but on comparative evidence from similarly constituted societies across the globe.
The proposals for “shared governance” or “power sharing” gained an added impetus in the last decade following a re-intensification of overt ethnic hostilities following the 1997 elections. In the wake of those hostilities there was a significant development: the PNC, which had steadfastly insisted that the modified Westminster two-party system was quite appropriate for our circumstances, suddenly did a volte face in 2002. After a vigorous internal debate, the PNC, called for executive shared governance. The fly in the ointment, however, was that it now appeared that only when the PPP or the PNC were in the wilderness of the opposition, did the idea of sharing power across the aisles become attractive.
Not unreasonably, there has developed a healthy scepticism even among the ordinary citizens (not to mention the jaded political class) about the motives impelling calls for shared governance.
The PPP derided the calls for bringing the PNC into the cabinet as a manoeuvre for securing power “through the back door” but conceded that there was the need for a more “inclusive governance”. The agreement to discuss the latter was formally agreed on by the government in a list of items that formed the basis of a ‘dialogue” between the President and the leader of the PNC. After dealing with most of the agenda items, the discussions on “inclusive governance” were left hanging in abeyance as the “dialogue” petered out.
The PNC has consistently repeated its calls for shared governance based on the detailed proposals it had presented back in 2002. In his New Year’s message, Mr Robert Corbin once again made an impassioned plea: “I am convinced however, that (ethnic reconciliation) will only occur if we are prepared to embrace fundamental change. Our system of governance is pivotal. It is irrelevant whether we want, for convenience, to describe it as shared governance or inclusive governance. Let us take the opportunity, in 2010, to commence that journey, no matter how difficult it may seem.”
Ten days later, to the surprise of many, the President responded. We quote from the state newspaper’s report: “…we need to work closer at the national level…I hope given the speech of Mr. Corbin (Robert) this year, that we can use the opportunity of his speech, what he said about genuinely wanting to work closer together, putting away baggage, recognising that our country is important to all of us, and that there are bigger issues than our parties that we belong to.”
More pertinently, the President saw fit to declare, “Because I said it many, many times, that I am Guyanese before I am PPP (People’s Progressive Party) and if there is anything in my party that conflicts with the national interest, I will take the national interests.” It would appear that the President was signalling that if there were elements in his party (PPP) that might be opposed to a further exploration of Mr Corbin’s call for “shared or inclusive” governance, he would proceed notwithstanding. This avowal is interesting in light of other developments that suggest that New Garden and Robb Streets might not be singing from the same page of the hymn book.
The President concluded, “I agree that we should all work towards some form of enhanced collaboration among the political parties, if we can establish a framework based on respect where the thing that drives us most is the need to respond to the demands of our people…then that framework will succeed.”
We believe that this is a very positive development for any future sustainable development of our country. There must be, however, the widest national discussion on the “framework” for collaboration and we call for this process to begin now.

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