Mr. Ramjattan was not endeavouring to forward a sociological analysis of the Guyanese society

Jan 25, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to a letter recently published in your newspaper entitled “Khemraj Ramjattan’s Bath Settlement call was ill-advised,” authored by Lurlene Nestor.
It has to be pointed out at the very outset, for the education of Ms. Nestor, albeit its very obvious nature, that Mr. Ramjattan was talking about the practice of politics in Guyana and not in any way endeavouring to forward a sociological analysis of the Guyanese society.
Ever since the PNCR lost the general elections of 1992, Guyanese of East Indian descent have indeed been very fearful of the possibility of a PNCR return to power.
This has been so for a variety of reasons whether justified or unjustified. This moreover explains why Indians have been very skeptical of considering other political options to the PPP as a vote for an alternative political entity is considered a vote that could see the return of the PNCR.
One does not have to be an expert of Guyanese political history to know that ever since the disintegration of the original PPP in the 1950’s, the PPP and PNCR have acquired distinctly ethnic characteristics.
Against this background, Mr. Ramjattan’s recent address at Bath Settlement was an impassioned exhortation to the Guyanese populace that indeed the time has come for an effective abandonment of this dysfunctional fear.
It was a plea to a beguiled population that indeed the time is right for considering alternatives to the failed and anachronistic political behemoths.
It was effectively a call to the Guyanese people that the moment is now for electoral decisions to be premised on the soundness and validity of blueprints and actions plans as against an unproductive propensity to ethnic politics.
Thus, the presidential candidate of the AFC called for a molding of an authentic unity premised on equal and genuine partnerships.
Mr. Ramjattan made reference to the victorious outcome that is produced when there are genuine synergies between Travis Dowlin, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Lennox Cush and Narsingh Deonarine. He actually embraced prime ministerial candidate and African Guyanese Sheila Holder as he emphasised this point.
The audience comprised of persons of all ethnicities, albeit predominantly Indian Guyanese, who had huddled under a shed of the Bath Bible Church, as the rain fell, cheered loudly at this gesture of unity.
It is the first time I saw a mass of Indian Guyanese express shock, dismay and anger at the Government of their traditional choice as Mr. Ramjattan articulated the excesses of luxury President Jagdeo has secured for himself once he demits office.
It should be noted here that as Jean Grugel expounds in a classic work, democratization a critical introduction, democracy can be defined as a way of making decisions collectively and establishing rules and policies through popular decision making.
It is a form of government over which the people exercise control and which operates in the people’s interest.
Democratic citizenship is inclusive and political institutions aim to translate citizen preferences into policy.In a State that claims to be democratic, but where sections of the population are paralyzed and proscribed by an endemic fear from exercising the optimal electoral judgment, then that State could be said to be deprived of the spirit and intent of the democratic process.
Indeed the following notions are enshrined in the AFC’s blueprint as core principles: Healing and Reconciliation; Liberal Democracy; Good Governance and a Functional Multi –Ethnic Society. It is enshrined that an AFC Government resolves to “defend and increase the civil liberties of our people and regulate government’s intervention in political, economic and social issues affecting the people and to ensure that every citizen has equitable access to the resources of the state and the national decision-making processes in keeping with Article 13 of our constitution.”
The AFC’s Action Plan further resolves that he AFC will reform and empower the Ethnic Relations Commission to provide Ethnic Impact Statements of cabinet decisions and Government departments where necessary and such findings will be acted upon in the best interest of all Guyanese.
Further, it is documented in the Action Plan that the AFC recognises that the present Constitution does not serve the best interest of the country and within the shortest possible time in office will appoint a Commission to rewrite the Constitution with the full participation of the people.
“The new constitution will put the necessary checks and balances in place to consolidate our ethos of liberal democracy. Freedom of speech, devolution of power and a Bill of Rights of our citizens will be enshrined in the document. The document shall provide processes to expose and penalize abuse of power, and corrupt activities. Our citizens shall be held to the rule of law in all their actions by this sacrosanct document.”
Thus the AFC dismisses this rambling and awkward letter by Lurlene Nestor of the PNC as the scrambling of an increasingly moribund political entity for attention. The AFC chooses not to respond to the machinations from the IAC as there is a national awareness that this grouping is populated with a cabal of PPP sycophants who have been ordered to periodically issue these incoherent charges to obfuscate the work of such institutions as the AFC.
If one was to attempt to effect a sociological analysis, which was not the mandate of Ramjattan’s address at Bath, one would realise that ethnic discord in Guyanese society is a product of unfortunate history where our people were factioned against each other to achieve distinct economic and political goals.
Thus there needs a macro policy approach to achieve ethnic harmony and unity of purpose. In 2009, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chancellor of the University of Guyana Dr. Bertrand Ramcharan recommended a historical inquiry commissioned by Parliament and carried out by a combination of Guyanese, Caribbean and international scholars.
The aim, he forwarded, would be the publication of a series of historical studies on issues such as the governance system, trade union rights, human rights, the treatment of women etc. He posited that the panel could be given three years to conclude its work. At the end of the work, their studies and recommendations would be tabled in Parliament and widely circulated in the country.
“The process should contribute to national catharsis over time. It should be a foundation contribution to nation building. And if we are wise, we should learn lessons and identify policies and ideas that can help us move forward together with cohesion and national unity.” An AFC Government would promptly move to initiate the prudence of such a recommendation.
In a year that has been dedicated by the United Nations to people of African descent, the AFC here issues its endorsement of the view articulated by the Jamaican sociologist Orlando Patterson, that people of African descent have taught the modern world the true meaning of freedom. This being so because African people have endured and survived the very antithesis of freedom, we are all better able to have a better appreciation of the vital and indispensible necessity of freedom.
The Alliance for Change perhaps more than any other political entity is grounded and governed by this knowledge and appreciation of the importance of all ethnic groups to the Guyanese societal fabric.
Amar Panday

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