A CASE OF STUBBORNESS

Feb 14, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The PNCR is obsessed with the person who occupies the chairmanship of the Ethnic Relations Commission and no doubt wants to see this person off the body. The PPP on the other hand is suspicious of the main opposition’s position as regards to the extension of the life of the Commission  and believes it is all part of a plot by the opposition to take control of this body.
What has resulted is that one of the more important constitutional commissions in the country is not enjoying the confidence of the main opposition which has gone as far as questioning the constitutionality of the body.
It is time that both political parties demonstrate greater political maturity and settle their differences over this body. The work of the commission is far too important to be divided over an individual. The commission has valuable work to do and if the parties are indeed serious about the objectives of the commission, if they are committed to those objectives, then at least some form of parliamentary dialogue should be opened to see if these differences can be narrowed and some consensus arrived at.
If these two parties which represent the majority of Guyanese cannot agree on how to deal with the issue of the Ethnic Relations Commission, how can they be expected to cooperate on solving more serious problems. The PNCR has been begging for power sharing but if it cannot agree on a simple matter like an ethnic relations commission, how can it hope to convince anyone, much less the government, which knows about that party’s record when it comes to inter party agreements, that it can be trusted to be part of solving the intractable problems facing the country.
If the two main political parties cannot settle a simple problem like the appointment of an Ethnic Relations Commission which has constitutional provisions to guide them, then how can power sharing ever work in Guyana. It cannot ever work with this level of mistrust between the two sides. But the same commission presents the ruling party and the government with an opportunity to demonstrate that there are avenues for political cooperation by forcing them to come together to address the controversy that has erupted over the existence of the ERC.
The government no doubt believes that the present commission is lawful; the opposition feels otherwise. There are two routes to a solution. The first is to ask the courts to make a decision. But is this going to solve the political problem. It is not. But a political solution can solve the problem and in this election year, both the PPP and the PNCR should demonstrate that they have the political maturity necessary to bring an end to the unnecessary wrangling to this problem.
As a compromise, the PPP should remove its insistence on the inclusion of the Inter Religious Committee before the process can be moved forward. The PNCR on the other hand, should  remove its objection to any specific individual. Instead of each side pressing for inclusion of new members, what should happen is that each of the major constituents who are part of the process of selecting members of the commission should make the necessary nominations and let the process roll forward.
Political parties should forget about control and allow the bodies that constituted the first commission to get about their work. These bodies will be able to work together because they are not interested in political power which both the PPP and the PNCR have a vested stake in.
If the two sides cannot reach an agreement so as to find a lawful way out of the impasse over the commission, then the members of the commission should collectively resign so as to force a solution. The Ethnic Relations Commission is too important to become a political football. There is no good reason why those good men and women who are part of the commission should stick around and become embroiled in the political conflict that has arisen over the constitutionality of the body. They should resign and allow for the matter to be resolved at another level.
If the political differences cannot be solved, then a recourse should be made to the courts to make a ruling once and for all.
One suspects that this is where this controversy will end because neither side seems willing to compromise on the issue. The government insists on the opposition accepting its terms by including the IRO; the opposition objects and wants other groups because it hopes that in so doing it can exact revenge on a Chairman it does not like.
Both sides are being stubborn. And while all of this is happening the people of Guyana are being asked to choose between these two parties, and others, to run Guyana for the next five years.

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