Raphael Trotman, the Westminster system and post-colonial stupidities

Mar 01, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Great Britain is a very old country. It has been in existence for a long time. Over centuries, institutions in such a territory come to take on a life of their own. It is theoretically foolish to compare the shape of State institutions in the UK with newly established countries that got their Independence from the Mother Country.
Over centuries, the practice of politics has come to mould the national psyche of the British citizenry, so it is not easy for a young post-colonial territory to emulate a country that has been around for more than five hundred years.
Many features of the Westminster system in the UK simply cannot be reproduced in the former colonies. Complicating things is the tribal or racial bifurcations of many post-colonial States.
Take the BBC. No former British colony has successfully replicated the role of the BBC in Britain, the reason being that the people of the UK, including its politicians, see the BBC not as a governmental department but as a national heritage. Out of that understanding it would be rejected forthwith if a sitting government in the UK tries to turn the BBC into a propaganda arm of the ruling party that would not be contemplated by any ruling party.
Many Westminster features have not worked in the former colonies, though they may continue to function smoothly in the UK. Take the concept of the independent public servant. This is a myth in places like Guyana. The WikiLeaks cables on the Police Commissioner, Henry Greene, made a mockery of the kind of ethics we adopted from the UK.
Under the laws of Guyana, the Police Commissioner’s work cannot be dictated to by the Government. It was for this reason, that then Assistant Commissioner of Police, Paul Slowe, told the then Home Affairs Minister, Ronald Gajraj that under the law, he, Gajraj cannot order him to return a firearm to an accused person.
Under the Fiscal Amendment Act, the President and his Ministers cannot grant duty-free concessions. This is the jurisdiction of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). Matters become comical when one reads the WikiLeaks cables on Commissioner Henry Greene. It was President Jagdeo who had the power to appoint Greene. Not only was Greene appointed, but his age of retirement was extended from 55 to 60 by the President.
The Board of the GRA decides on the vacancy of Commissioner General of the GRA, but the President selects who sits on the Board. These things may work smoothly in the UK, but not in some former British colonies where democracy was never planted.
Some strange vibes seem to be emanating from the Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman. Over the weekend, addressing a strategy meeting of the Alliance for Change, he told his AFC colleagues that his politics will be transformed now that he is the Speaker because he will have to be neutral. That is a confusing adumbration.
It is outside the scope of this column to expand on the myth of a neutral Speaker in a dictatorship.
What Mr. Trotman means is that he has to appear fair to both sides of the House when conducting the business of the House. This fairness is situated in the arena of regulation, not legislation.
The late Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru said; “…we would like the Chair (Speaker) now and always to guard the freedom and liberty of the House from every possible danger, even from the danger of executive intrusion … because the House represents the nation, the Speaker becomes the symbol of the Nation’s freedom and liberty.” (Taken from, Durga Dass Basu, “Commentary on the Constitution of India, Vol. 5.”)
In political theory and in practical politics, Guyana has never been a parliamentary democracy, therefore the role of the House in such a situation has been contorted and convoluted.
In the new dispensation after the 2011 elections, the role of the Speaker is to participate in the delivery of democracy, freedom and liberty to the Guyanese people. There can be no neutrality in such a pursuit.
Guyana’s Parliament under the Jagdeo regime has seen the subordination of the House to the Executive and the usage of the House to deny freedom and liberty to the Guyanese people.
Raphael Trotman has to use the great power of the Speaker to make Parliament independent. In such an endeavour, there can be no place for the Speaker’s neutrality.
One hopes to see an early start by the Speaker, APNU and the AFC in reversing all the wrongs did to the Guyanese people as a result of an imprisoned Parliament under Mr. Jagdeo.

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