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Feb 26, 2012 Editorial

The Mashramani bonhomie did not last long. The sweat had barely dried from their exertions to commemorate the founding of our republic, when the government and opposition returned to the reality of the ‘new dispensation.’
We know that the term is fast becoming hackneyed but it still describes best the hope engendered in the bosoms of most Guyanese when they discovered what their votes had wrought on November 28.
The PPP ended up with one branch of government – the Executive branch headed by the President and the combined opposition now controlled the second branch – the Legislature. The third branch – the judiciary, of course, remained unaffected and hopefully resolutely impartial as the arbiter of the laws of the land that includes the constitution, governing both the executive and legislature.
Thus, like the rational creatures they were, Guyanese citizens hoped that at a minimum, to keep the country afloat, the government and the opposition would ‘talk’ to each other since by mutual agreement they were in ‘unchartered’ waters. Unfortunately, the reality has been more of a ‘hold me, loose me’ pattern that has left the electorate bemused. Now remember that ‘bemused’ means ‘confused not ‘amused’.
It all started out very positively. President Ramotar announced several initiatives – most notably a Tripartite Engagement involving the leaders of the parliamentary parties. They would meet regularly to discuss measures to deal with nettlesome issues of all categories that could precipitate logjam in the parliament. There were several other gestures along the same path. So far, so good.
Matters became ticklish when the first order of business of the new parliament came to the fore: selecting the Speaker of the House and the Deputy. The executive was peeved that the opposition, contravening tradition, insisted on taking both positions. They concluded wryly that the opposition was not showing good faith and was playing the politics of ‘winner takes all’. In the Guyanese context, this was a very serious charge since it invoked the single most objectionable feature of our fractured polity.
In the second order of business, composition of the all important Selection Committee that would determine the composition of all other parliamentary committees that have power to scrutinise and oversee all aspects of the government’s activities, the opposition once more demonstrated that it would play hardball and control the system.
Immediately, and perhaps inevitably, there was a change in the government’s posture. In addition to protesting their exclusion from the powerful position of Speaker – the office that ultimately decides what goes on the agenda for discussion and who is recognised to speak in parliament – spokespersons for the government became very sharp in their characterisations of the opposition. In other words, we were back to the old failed politics.
Before the third order of business reached parliament – perusal of Supplementary Spending in excess of that authorised by the last budget – the Minister of Finance used very uncomplimentary language to describe his counterpart on the opposition benches. One wondered at the point of this pique since the same individual was going to lead the debate on the Supplementary Spending.
The president also, in an interview published in the state media, accused the opposition of ‘rigging’ the elections.
Whether there were merits or not in the charges, the timings and indeed their import, not surprisingly, precipitated a negative reaction from the opposition. The two Supplementary Spending Bills were hauled over the coals, all sorts of imprecations were hurled and motives charged before one was deferred and the other gutted. It appeared to a wide swath of citizens that it was ‘payback time’.
In the fourth engagement, the opposition evidently signalled that, as the government feared, it was going to seek control of all parliamentary committees. However, some good sense appeared to have prevailed and the matter will be discussed at the Tripartite Committee level.
We urge all leaders to heed the voice of the people: control of governance by any ‘one side” must be abjured. Enough of the sniping. Consensus and compromise must be the new mantra.

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