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Apr 22, 2012 Editorial

Unquestionably we are witnessing a new dispensation in Guyanese politics. In fact we might be very well witnessing a new definition of politics in our land. The elections delivered us with the executive controlled by one party and the legislature controlled by the other two that managed to secure seats – the APNU and AFC. That fact alone intimated – since the several small, micro parties had disappeared – that there was a shakeout in the political landscape. It would appear as is the shakeout continues.
The arena this time is not the hustings but the normally more staid chambers of Parliament Buildings. In the first engagement, there appeared to be a modus vivendi struck between the two opposition parties and they secured the Speaker and his deputy for their ‘side’. The next salvo became a stalemate as the government resorted to the courts to test the opposition’s premise on the composition of Committees. And finally came the budget.
This, now, was what politics was supposedly all about: who gets what, when and how. And here we began to see some cracks in the Opposition’s facade. Before the elections and even after, the opposition announced that they were convinced there was tremendous ‘waste’ in governmental spending – summarised in the annual budget. They vowed to excise these and spread the savings to other more ‘worthwhile’ programmes. So far; so good.
But when the first three Ministries came up before the Assembly – now dubbed the Committee of Supply –the AFC demanded cuts that guaranteed that hundreds of workers – albeit contract workers – would have to be purged, APNU blinked. These workers, after all were part of APNU’s “traditional” constituency. Good old fashioned politics triumphed and the AFC was irked to say the least. The table had been turned on that party; it was presented as ‘Scrooge” – not a desired appellation for the modern politician.
Then the government announced that the long term electricity subsidy for Linden would gradually be phased out. Linden represents an interesting political conundrum in Guyana. Named after Burnham, it still became a hotbed of WPA activism in the 1970s. The PNC later crippled the town after it brought in a foreign operator WISROC that reduced in 1990 the already depleted workforce from 3000 to 1400.
When the PPP was returned to office in 1992, it tried valiantly to woo Lindeners: in addition to the electricity subsidy, there was water distribution, a new hospital, taking over US$30 million of the bauxite debt to make privatisation possible etc.
Against this background, it was not unreasonable to assume that the government felt that it was time to reduce the subsidy – in a phased manner. The perennially cash-strapped GPL in the same budget was being propped up with an injection of $6 billion – which would stave off an imminent increase in tariffs (presently at $64/kilowatt/hr) – but at least all consumers would benefit.
It would not be fair, they argued for Linden to continue paying $5-7 per Kw/hr. In negotiations with the government, APNU evidently agreed – but only after demanding and receiving several concessions from the government. Again good old fashioned politics operating – especially since some of the concessions concerned Linden.
The AFC however, did not agree. It is not clear at this point as to why they had not attended the opposition’s negotiation session with the government but immediately denounced the agreement as a ‘sell out’ by APNU. It had already castigated the proposal when first floated by the government as a ‘spiteful’ move.
Reacting to outrage in the community where it had received solid support, APNU furiously back-pedalled from their earlier commitment.
We believe that the new politics – where parties are only reacting to their constituency’s parochial views – does not bode well for our country’s future. One cannot blame communities for seeking to protect their own interests. But it is the task of responsible politicians to look at the overarching national interests and to strike a reasonable balance.
Politicians making hay at this time may see it all go up in flames – along with the country.

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