Democracy in Guyana: and the PNC’s callous legacy

Feb 23, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor
I am not usually in the habit of responding to people who present minimal appropriate evidence. Nonetheless, in the Kaieteur News of February 21, 2011, there are two letters that require some level of response.
In my previous letter, “Replicating an Egypt in Guyana against the New Opposition”, I merely indicated that Guyana is a fragile democracy. Indeed, Guyana does not have an absolute democracy. Guyana is an evolving democracy pursuing a path toward consolidation of its democracy. Guyana’s democracy is a work in progress. And we must understand that ‘democracy’ in this context refers to democracy at all levels.
The international Democracy Index of the Economist placed Guyana in the same category as Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras, among others.
Indeed, if the new opposition were not unleashing measures of desperation over the last few years, Guyana’s democracy would have soared to greater heights. It is always good to carry an effective opposition; but what is problematic is when that opposition applies distortions to tackle issues, as in the case of the global food and fuel price increases of 2008.
For instance, in 2008, the opposition’s presentation on rising cost of living indicated that the Government of Guyana was totally culpable for the increased food prices. The oppositional elements were unaware that the global food crisis had its genesis in 2002; and where in 2007, global grain prices increased by as much as 42 per cent.
The opposition, in their haste to create instability, and thereby halt the pace of democratic development, failed to acknowledge that food costs as a percentage of disposable income rose astronomically. Nowhere is this more lucid than in the developing world where nearly 75 per cent of a person’s disposable income is on food expenditure.
Again, democracy does not only encompass casting ballots on Election Day, but instead, is grounded in the framework of electoral pluralism, which embodies electoral competitiveness and electoral inclusiveness; and while Guyana’s democracy may not be perfect, it remains a work in progress which this government continues to work tirelessly to consolidate. And while we have come a far way in our quest for the consolidation of Guyana’s democracy, the “callous legacy” that followed the PNC’s removal from office in 1992 was nothing short of a logistical nightmare which the PPP had to overcome in order to obtain and consolidate democracy in Guyana, and regain the trust of the Guyanese people, which the PNC government betrayed.
I think these letter writers need to acknowledge that fundamental human rights and major constitutional reforms came to Guyana only after the PPP/C restored democracy in 1992. If more information is required on the ‘callous legacy’ thing that the PPP inherited and on Guyana’s democracy, then I will be happy to provide more data.
Prem Misir

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Democracy in Guyana: and the PNC’s callous legacy

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