GUYANA IS NOT A DEMOCRACY

Jan 24, 2010 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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A Democracy is said to be “Government of the People, by the people and for the people”; also, “Government by the whole people of a country, especially through representatives whom they elect”. Secondly, “a Constitution sets out the principles according to which a country is organised”. Therefore, it is given that for there to be a democracy, there must be an enabling Constitution.
The P.P.P. vigorously opposed, and boycotted, the 1978 National Referendum which was a precursor to, and heralded, the 1980 Constitution. The P.P.P, while in the opposition for the twelve-year period from 1980-1992, was extremely vocal in its criticism of the 1980 Constitution. There is little doubt, of course, that the P.P.P. would have behaved differently, because it was the P.P.P. that first took the socialist route.
The P.P.P. has been in power for seventeen years, during which time it has been bragging about the return of democracy to Guyana. The P.P.P. has had seventeen years to make right for this country a Constitution which it said was so wrong for it for the twelve years that it was in the opposition under the said constitution. There have only been cosmetic changes to the constitution, instead of dismantling the entire structure and building a new one, all it did was re-position a few windows.
The N.D.C. and R.D.C. Councillors and Members of Parliament, who are supposed to be “representatives” of the people, are still not directly accountable to the people. They are, in fact, still “creatures” of their respective political parties. The Ministers of the Government (including the Prime Minister) and the P.P.P. hierarchy are creatures of the President, who is still a “maximum leader”. In fact, now that Local Government elections are in the air all Guyanese are called on to make a statement about the persons being put up to represent them. They must demand to have a say in choosing who the different political parties present as “their” candidates.
The Judicial, Teaching, Public Service and Police Service Commissions are all creatures of the President and political directorate and by extension, so are all the senior public functionaries.
There is no requisite legislation in place to ensure that Journalists and Reporters are able to access information in order to enlighten and expose. The Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions still comes under the political directorate to some extent and is still heavily dependent on the police to execute prosecutorial duties. There is no unit outside of the influence and control of the Commissioner of Police to investigate illegal and irregular practices in the Guyana Police Force. The legal and court system cannot guarantee citizens resolution of their civil and criminal matters within a reasonable time. Nothing has been done to make it any easier and hassle-free for workers to be able to gain access to a Trade Union of their choice. In fact, laws have been passed by this P.P.P. regime to make it more difficult for aggrieved workers in certain sectors to exercise the right to strike.
For a democracy to work, anyone who decides to enter into the public arena, irrespective of whether it is voluntarily or as a paid employee, must understand that they immediately become a servant of the people. Our Politicians and other public officials have failed to grasp the fact that their financial involvements are garnered from the taxes paid by the people of this country and, as such, they are employees and the people are their employers. Unless this principle is fully appreciated and implemented, the dream of our country becoming a Democracy will always remain just that, a dream.
Another necessary tenet for the realisation of a democratic society is that there must be a very vibrant and effective opposition. An accurate yardstick to measure the competence and potency of the opposition is the standard of governance that exists within a country. A government that is autocratic has absolutely no interest in enlightening the masses in order for them to understand that they (the masses) are the real governing class, and that the ultimate power lies in their hands. On the other hand, it is the bounden duty of any opposition worth its salt to enlighten, motivate and organise the masses to hold the government in check, thereby preventing excesses. As a matter of fact, the Leader of the Opposition is a salaried employee of the state, hence, he is also an employee of the people and he has the responsibility to adequately represent all of the people of Guyana.
Consequently upon the above, what we have now is not a functioning democracy, but rather we are becoming a de facto one-party state. What Guyana needs urgently is to have the implementation of the Constitution reforms agreed on since 2001 and for us to go further by ensuring that Article 13 of our Constitution is honoured and implemented in every respect; thereby ensuring that we live in, and enjoy, an “inclusionary democracy” where the people and their representative organizations are truly involved in “the management and decision-making processes of the State.”

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