Ruling in the interest of the people

Dec 10, 2011 Editorial

For now, the country is going to enjoy real parliamentary democracy whenever parliament convenes. This convening of the next parliament is not likely to happen any time this year because there are still the inter-party talks. These talks are aimed to working out the deals even before the parliament convenes.
For example, one of the first things that the new government has done is to discuss the issue of the speaker. As can be expected the opposition parties have signaled that the government will not have its own way with that appointment. The result is that there are now four possible candidates for the job. One can almost say with certainty that the speaker will come from the opposition benches. But even that is not without contention because the two opposition parties will have to trade.
But for as long as the situation lasts the nation will have a chance to witness the cut and thrust of real debates. They will actually have a say in financial releases for development activities. The government is going to plan its programmes but such planning will not be done in a vacuum.
Indeed unilateral planning has been the case ever since Guyana resorted to parliamentary democracy via the system of proportional representation. There may even be attempts by the opposition to revisit some of the contracts being undertaken.
Contracts that have avoided scrutiny so far are the Amaila Falls hydro project, the proposed Marriott Hotel project and the various road expansion projects now underway, one of them being the widening of the East Coast Demerara Highway.
In the absence of Procurement Committee, something that the opposition has been calling for a long time, many of the contracts escaped scrutiny by an oversight outside of the government framework. The opposition parties in parliament raised numerous queries but they could do nothing.
The government must now answer to these opposition parties or face the ignominy of having to shelve a well-calculated project for failure of getting the necessary parliamentary support. From our vantage point, while this is a good thing since accountability is the hallmark of any good administration, the government may not take too kindly to being hamstrung by a ‘pesky’ parliament.
However, there are those in the ruling party who feel that the nation deserves better than what operated in the history of the country. For all of their lives they have been seeing majority rule which not only allowed the government pretty much a free hand to do whatever it pleased.
In a country as ethnically diverse and as polarized as Guyana one can readily understand why people welcome this minority parliament. For those who feel disenfranchised there is now the belief that their concerns would be addressed readily.
There are those who expect more confrontation that co-operation because politics in Guyana has for the most part been confrontational. And indeed with a Minority Parliament there may very well be many confrontational episodes. And it is here that one must wonder whether any government would wish to tolerate the frustrations likely to emerge during the Parliamentary debates.
The government spokesman is talking about sincerity among some of the political leaders to work for the good of Guyana. He said that President Donald Ramotar is keen to provide the best for the people and may not even be contemplating snap elections.
The spokesman did say that snap elections may very well be an option since the government would wish to feel comfortable in its management of the country. And unless a government is bent on some form of dictatorial rule the present situation does provide for real and meaningful consultations.
As the spokesman said, the people of this country deserve better and the present situation in parliament does offer them a chance to enjoy the better that they deserve.

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Ruling in the interest of the people

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