It is to the PPP’s benefit to not have a strong functioning office of the opposition leader

Nov 19, 2012 Letters

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Dear Editor,
For the health and efficiency of a democracy there must be a strong opposition. It is my opinion that because the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) is aware of this fact, they have purposely underfunded and undermined the office of the Leader of the Opposition in Guyana. When the PPP courted the electorate 20 years ago, they promised that there would be a return to democracy.
However two decades later what we have in Guyana is not democracy but an elected dictatorship that gains its legitimacy through an ethnic census every five years. I did not have to read “Office of the opposition Leader starved of state funds” KN November 18th 2012, to know and realize the depth to which we have sunk in our quest to realize a democratic polity. The PPP has never walked away from its Marxist Leninist ideology, which has at its core democratic centralism and the paramountcy of the party. Government of the people by the people for the people is of no interest to these Guyanese communist oriented leaders that walk the halls of power.
Mr. Editor it is to the PPP’s benefit to not have a strong functioning office of the opposition leader. The Ramotar government like its predecessors is bent on stifling the will of the people, while they conduct a criminal enterprise where friends and cronies   and government ministers get extremely wealthy, on the backs of the mostly poor suffering masses. It is a fact that wherever the system of parliamentary democracy has been established and allowed to function, the importance of a healthy, effective, vigilant and ever alert opposition has been indispensable.
It is to the benefit of the Guyanese nation to have a strong opposition and a fully funded office of the leader of the opposition, to check the government from engaging in excesses or becoming tyrannical or autocratic. We must never forget that the very essence of democracy is dissent and debate. We must see our representatives working in the legislature, discussing, dissenting, and persuading.
Some of the duties of the leader of the opposition in Guyana, include; holding the Executive accountable; developing an organized approach to and representing the views of, the people, opinion leaders and nongovernmental organizations; ensuring that there is freedom of access to information and the media; adequately representing in the national assembly and generally, the interest and concerns of the people.
To accomplish this very important constitutional function the Ramotar government has agreed to staff the office of the opposition leader with 5 staff members; a Gardner, a secretary, a driver, a receptionist and one other staff. With this meager personnel composition and refusing to pay the mortgage and provide for the other amenities that compliment a full functioning office, the minority PPP government continues to show its disdain towards the will of the electorate.
Let us not forget that Brigadier David Granger as leader of the Parliamentary opposition speaks for and is the representative of the majority of the electorate in Guyana. Granger’s constituency far exceeds that of Donald Ramotar, yet he is given short shrift by the State and must scrape, beg and use personal funds in order to satisfy his constitutional mandate. Juxtapose this with the PPP fat cats that are harboured and paid by the Office of the President for questionable work that does not benefit the taxpayers who pay their lofty salaries.
The Office of the Opposition leader has no access to state vehicles, no budget, and pays its own light, telephone and water bill. There is no staff to assist Brigadier Granger prepare for his parliamentary and other duties, there is no research capability nor is there state funds to assist in mounting a formidable opposition.
The office of the Leader of the Opposition should by necessity be funded like a small government ministry with its own budget and a full, compliment of staff, if we are serious about democracy in Guyana. I compliment Kaieteur News, for the press should be a jealous guardian of the people’s rights, privileges and freedoms. Like the opposition in a legislature, the press is also a watchdog and guardian of the public interest.
Mr. Editor, Benjamin Disraeli (former Prime Minster of Great Britain) once stated that; “no government can long be secure without a formidable opposition”. It is my contention that Disraeli was right and the days of the PPP are numbered.  For, as the Executive rumbles forward on a collision course with the people (parliament), Guyanese may finally have an opportunity to have real democracy.
Mark Archer

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