Moving On

Dec 07, 2011 Editorial

Donald Ramotar has been sworn in as Guyana’s seventh Executive President and has unveiled his cabinet. We are hoping that this represents the dawn of a new era; the beginning of a new covenant between government and the people.
We do not intend to tarry long in looking backwards but we cannot escape the reality that our present is shaped by, and is a consequence of, the past. That past has unfortunately been dominated by authoritarianism, corruption and a refusal to take into consideration the views of a wide cross section of the citizenry in the making of decisions. For the dawn to indeed be new, President Ramotar must address each of those albatrosses, which, not so incidentally, caused his party’s support to be decimated to below 50%.
Our present constitution was crafted by an individual, Forbes Burnham, who even his most fervent supporter concedes was authoritarian. His constitution was designed to give a legal imprimatur to that existential reality. Whether President Ramotar is also so inclined or not – and all evidence suggests that he is at the other end of the spectrum and is extremely laissez faire – he will have to ensure that the leadership style of he and his cabinet return to earth.
As to whether the constitutional stipulations on the powers of the presidency have to be changed, as the two opposition parties that now constitute a majority in the House of Assembly have asserted, is not of immediate urgency. That contingency, as we all know will take time – for the wheels of government do tend to grind rather slowly. To demonstrate a more democratic style, President Ramotar could begin by initiating a more accessible and less confrontational relationship with the media.
While the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are the modern three estates, the media is the fourth that reflects and transmits the will of the people on a day to day basis. The President must accept that it is the duty of the media to scrutinise the workings of the government and to report its findings to the people. The latter will then be in a position to make informed decisions that constitute the essence of a democratic polity. We respectfully propose that the President institute a fixed, scheduled interaction with the media, where he will receive and answer questions without fear or favour. This will also address the lacuna in inquiry precipitated by Burnham’s change of the Westminster System, where the head of the executive was subject to questioning by the opposition in Parliament
We have already raised the absolute necessity for the new government to take immediate steps to deal with the cancer of corruption that is destroying our country. President Ramotar should not wait for the opposition, which not surprisingly has its tail up, to take the initiative in this area.
On the last of our desiderata for a new era in governance, the workings of our electoral system has already presented the President with the necessity of taking into consideration the opinions of the opposition before implementing programmes. The first order of business when Parliament convenes will be the selection of a Speaker of the House. Knowing that it needs 50% of the votes, the president and his party should work immediately with the combined opposition to select such person unanimously.
The Speaker, while originating from one of the parties in parliament, must been seen to be fair and to be capable of enforcing the Rules of Order in an impartial manner. Some names have been floated, but one in particular might be seen as too bitter and harbouring grudges against past colleagues. The Speaker must not only be fair but must be seen as fair.

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