De-recognizing the reality of changing power

Oct 23, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The preparation of the 2013 national budget began since August. To date, the government has not consulted the combined opposition. It is doubtful it will. The indications the past eleven months are that it will not. The ruling party must have decided at one of its plenary sessions that it will not recognize any role for Parliament in the exercise of the power that the Constitution bestows on the Executive even if the Constitution does spell out such a role.
There is nothing in the use of power by the Executive since the combined opposition won more votes in the 2011 elections that would suggest there is going to be a dialogue between the opposition and governmental leaders. With each passing day, the PPP Government displays a graphic contempt for the electoral reality that the national poll last year produced.
It is this writer’s opinion that more than other policy since the election results, two directions best describe what will be the attitude of the Government towards democracy, inclusiveness and power in general.
The first is the composition of the UG Council. The consensus in the society during the industrial dispute at UG in February this year was that the partisan Council was the problem at UG and what was needed was a more professional and less politicized Council.
As the Minister of Education engaged the UG stakeholders the Council’s life came to an end. The general expectation was that there would be less party representatives in the Council and a more broad based approach.
When the new names were announced, the old game of the PPP stretching back to Premier Jagan’s rule from 1957 was played out. The Government returned its quota of party people. Nothing changed on the UG Council except that the PPP had now given Odinga Lumumba more latitude in Guyana.
He was now the PPP’s nominee in the UG Council and was appointed to the committee dealing with finance and the body that approves appointments of lecturers.
In case you are confused then un-confuse your mind. This is not another person named Odinga Lumumba. This is the same dolphin man who is close to the goat Minister (that the goat bit a long time ago but he keeps saying the goat ain’t bite him) and the President himself. The symbolism behind the retention of the party hacks on the UG Council is the message that power will not be shared. The second policy is the make up of the broadcast authority. Filled with party functionaries, including the female version of Lumumba, who know absolutely nothing about the media and journalism, it is yet another direct message to the opposition and the society that the Executive office will not accommodate an inclusive approach but will exercise power to maximize the domination of the Executive.
There have been other egregious manifestations of the de-recognition of the post-election reality but these two examples should suffice for now along with the budget impasse.
The question is what is going to happen as we move into the second year of the presidency of the man whose fans call him De Donald. One thing for sure De Donald is not De Man who is running De Show but whether De Donald is running De Show or not, the PPP, as the ruling party, is not going to dialogue with the combined opposition on any kind of inclusiveness. It will not accept that there are constitutional provisions through which Parliament can limit the power of the Executive.
The Bureaucracy, which is directly controlled by the Executive, since it is subordinate to the Cabinet and takes instructions from the Cabinet (even if the Constitution prevents such interference), is not going to be brave enough to ignore a directive from the Executive and accept instructions from Parliament.
It was Moses Nagamootoo who said that the Police Commissioner may be in contempt of Parliament. This opinion arises out of the Commissioner’s letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly in which he boldly rejected the Speaker’s request for an end to police barriers around the streets of Parliament.
The most likely prediction of what is going to take place is that the Executive’s de-recognition of the choice the electorate made last November will become a blessing in disguise. As the combined opposition faces increasing contempt by the Executive, it will seek to save the embarrassment by doing something radical.
We don’t know as yet what it will be, but the APNU and the AFC know that sooner or later they will have to save their very existence by doing something.

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De-recognizing the reality of changing power

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