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Executive insanity and tripartite idiocy

Aug 02, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

How politics plays out in the coming months will be a fascinating curiosity for every Guyanese. In the new configuration brought about by the arrival of minority government in November last year, the future of Guyana will not be easy to predict. What is happening is the complete rejection of the traditional separation of powers that Guyana and its CARICOM neighbours inherited from Great Britain.
Every major act of the opposition in Parliament is met with a challenge in court. We do not have to offer the examples. The entire country is familiar with the government’s incessant legal challenges. But if one thought that the constant court battles were an ominous sign for the future, it was the unambiguous statement from President Ramotar that he will not assent to Bills from the opposition unless the Executive had an input that is frightening. That in itself is not so unreasonable. It is when you contextualize it that it becomes a nightmare. Enter the tripartite talks.
One of the decisions of the early tripartite sessions is that there will be an arrangement for opposition input into the composition of State boards. These entities were allowed a prolongation of life because the tripartite talks got caught up in a train of events, primarily the budget confrontation. Since then, the tripartite talks went off the tracks or are still there but those rails are no longer in use, so the talks are an abandoned vehicle. Enter a new situation.
After APNU introduced last week in Parliament a petition for the reorganization of the University of Guyana Council (simply another word for the board governing UG), the Minister of Education announced that a new Council has already been decided on. This has far-reaching implication for the relation between opposition and the Executive. The Minister’s announcement not only means that the tripartite talks are dead, but that the Government is not prepared to discuss power, even though it is a minority government. What we see unfolding is the rejection of the separation of powers.  Let’s explain this.
The need for a broad-based UG Council was one of the inflexible demands of the three unions at UG that called industrial activities that lasted for almost six weeks. These three unions have now rejected the new Council because they say it takes the UG back to square one – it will be a politically-shaped Council. Here is where the tripartite talks become idiotic and the rejection of the separation of powers by the PPP has been laid bare.
If the opposition is to have meaningful representation on State boards and the UG Council was chosen without consultations with the combined opposition and input from the UG unions, what makes the AFC and APNU think that the Government will bring them on other State institutions. UG underwent serious disruptions. Opposition Leader, David Granger visited the campus while the strike was on and a bunch of AFC parliamentarians, including Khemraj Ramjattan, participated in the protest. Yet there is a new UG Council and the opposition had no say in its composition.
How against this background can the AFC and APNU re-enter the tripartite talks? It is safe to say that the three-way dialogue is dead given this new move in relation to UG and the juxtaposition of what President Ramotar announced.
At the same time, the Executive is making policies and shaping and directing State institutions without even a modicum of opposition participation. We have then a rejection of the separation of powers. When Parliament passes legislation, there must be a direct hand by the Executive into what finally comes out. But the Executive will not share power with the Parliament even though it is a minority government. What then is the meaning of the elections results of November 28? The answer is that there was no opposition victory.

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