Isn’t Guyana a candidate for political intervention from CARICOM?

Feb 27, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
After Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office, Prime Minister of Grenada and CARICOM Chairman, Mr. Tillman Thomas, reportedly said the massive protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster constituted a victory for democracy, (“CARICOM: Egypt ‘episode’ a victory for democracy,” SN, Sunday, February 13, 2011).
In a carefully worded statement, the CARICOM Chairman noted that, “The Caribbean Community, which values good governance and the rule of law, looks forward to an orderly and seamless transition to a government that will organise free and fair elections and thereby satisfy the aspirations of all Egyptians to be governed by representatives of their own choosing.
This episode in the history of this great country is really a victory for democracy and it is incumbent on all who support democracy and democratic institutions to assist Egypt in building a broad based democracy. CARICOM calls upon all parties involved to cooperate as Egypt embarks on the challenging journey to democracy and to stability of the Egyptian polity.”
Now that some of the dust have settled in Egypt, it becomes necessary to revisit that statement to determine if CARICOM is finally coming out against dictatorships, because, up until now, CARICOM has been pretty much silent in the face of authoritarian governments closer to home: Guyana and Cuba.
During the era of the Forbes Burnham authoritarian regime, where elections were rigged to retain political power, CARICOM treated Burnham as one of the region’s political elders, rather than repudiate his regime for its excesses.
CARICOM has also openly embraced the dictatorial regime in Havana, and went so far as to call on the United States to lift its economic embargo against the island nation, without calling on Havana to reciprocate by staging free and fair elections.
Perhaps one of the reasons why CARICOM has been so indulgent with the Castro brothers is because of Cuba’s benevolence towards several CARICOM states, but the truth is, Cuba is as much a brutal dictatorship as Egypt was, with both countries reportedly jailing pro-democracy political dissidents for many years and many of them have even been made to ‘disappear’.
A dictator is a dictator, whether he is brutal or benevolent, and what CARICOM needs to do now that it appears to have come of age, politically speaking, is to take the same principled attitudinal approach to CARICOM member states that are engaging in authoritarian practices, even if they are democratically elected.
In the CARICOM Chairman’s statement, he opened by stating the regional body ‘values good governance and the rule of law’, and that is profoundly relevant in the case of the Guyana Government under President Bharrat Jagdeo, to the extent that this government has been exhibiting authoritarian characteristics.
And while the CARICOM Chairman also mentioned the importance of the Egyptian people in organising free and fair elections to satisfy their aspiration of being governed by representatives of their own choosing, he qualified that valued recognition of free elections by stating it is incumbent on all who support democracy and democratic institutions to assist Egypt in building a broad based democracy.
This is where democracy is not seen as an act with the casting of ballots on Election Day, but a process that extends beyond the ballot box and into establishing democratic, independent institutions that serve the people and not the party or politicians in government.
Sadly, even though the PPP won the last four elections, it has failed over the last 18 years to translate election victories into victories for the people of Guyana by ensuring the democratic institutions of government functioned independent of political interference or to their optimal potential.
As a result, we have seen the strong signs of Guyana returning to the dark days of Burnhamism, and this demands that CARICOM not wait until Guyana becomes a full-fledged dictatorship before speaking up or bringing regional and international pressure to bear on the Guyana Government to adhere to the all the principles of a true democracy.
It also ought to be a matter of grave concern to all CARICOM states that even though Guyana has had four cycles of free and fair elections, Guyanese continue to seek greener pastures in the region and farther afield. With all our untapped resources and vast arable lands, Guyanese are fleeing to regional states instead of nationals from island states fleeing to Guyana. What a perplexing picture that we are known for exporting teachers and now we have to import teachers.
Moreover, given the myriad media reports that indict the Jagdeo regime on several counts of executive abuse, endemic corruption and estrangement of the law, these CARICOM states should be looking at the complaints of the local opposition parties and media stories to determine whether the time is ripe for a staged political intervention to help this regime overcome its addiction to executive abuse, corruption and estrangement of the law.
If CARICOM does not act sooner rather than later, it could find itself putting out another statement directed at the Jagdeo regime in Guyana, condemning it for its downward spiral into authoritarianism and corruption; a dangerous combination for any democracy. So instead of waiting until the horse has bolted the stable to rush and shut the door, this is the best time to act on Guyana.
Mr. Editor, I am mindful of the fact that Guyana hosted a UNASUR meeting for leaders of that group’s member states, and one of the agreements in their final communiqué is to apply sanctions against countries that forcibly remove the elected government of a UNASUR member.
A pity this was not in effect when Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez tried twice in 1992 to overthrow the democratically elected government of Carlos Andres Perez, but while I am not calling for the forcible removal of the Jagdeo regime, I still have to ask whether CARICOM has its own set of sanctions for member states that fail to adhere to good governance and the rule of law, which CARICOM values.
As it is, there now appears to be no person or organisation or institution in Guyana that can bring sanctions to bear against the Jagdeo regime for its atrocities, and so the only recourse is for outside help or intervention.
Right now, short of a divine intervention, Guyana is a prime candidate for a staged political intervention to save it from egotistical political leaders addicted to abuse of power, love of money, absolute secrecy, bending the law and a propensity for political grandstanding.
Emile Mervin

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