The opposition will be a failure in 2013 unless it passes laws on key issues

Jan 05, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
The opposition was often played for the fool in 2012, often being set up and sent on running around like headless chickens by the PPP, while the rogues in that party made off with the nation’s wealth.
The opposition has to stop falling for these little diversionary tactics in 2013 and focus on the big picture. The opposition will be a failure if by December 31, 2013, it fails to do vital things, using its Parliamentary majority. Because the opposition controls Parliament, it controls the ability to pass laws. So, it must draft and pass laws. That is the blueprint by which the opposition will be judged in 2013.
There are enough lawyers in the opposition, so there is no excuse. Plus, there are model laws in every area of life floating around on the internet and readily available for duplication. So, the time for excuses from the opposition has passed.
The PPP will not pass these pieces of legislation because it will result in many of its high-ranking members visiting prison cells for a long time.
Here are the pieces of legislation the opposition must pass in 2013 in order to get a passing grade:
1. Anti-corruption – It should not, I repeat should not, take more than six months for the opposition to craft strong anti-corruption legislation that creates a powerful and far-reaching anti-corruption entity.
2. Electoral reform – This is necessary in Guyana. This debacle that passes for elections in Guyana has to end and a better system must be created with emphasis on campaign financing, etc.
3. Media reform – Absolutely essential; to not only prevent government abuse and domination of the media, but to reform those antiquated libel and other laws.
4. Proper procurement – To stop the thieving, banditry, highway robbery and corruption that overflow in the current contracting and procurement system.
5. Anti-discrimination and anti-racism – Legislation with teeth; that mandates ethnic balance in every facet of our life, including the armed forces. The AFC has to push this law as the PNC/APNU and the PPP will balk at this proposal for fear of losing their racial political playgrounds. However, with declining Indian and African populations and with the PNC/APNU base heavily marginalized in the past 20 years, this is the best thing for the survival of both parties.
6. Laws properly defining use of the Consolidated Fund – This would be to ensure the money this country handles is under strict watch, strong monitoring and powerful accountability.
7. Amend the Auditor General’s Office – Give him more independence, authority and the ability to conduct deeper forensic audits.
The opposition should not stop there. Call a referendum on issues that will bring overwhelming support to fixing our democracy such as removing or limiting the power of the president to dissolve or prorogue Parliament at will under article 70 of the Constitution.
How could a president who operates as head of an entirely different branch of government (executive), who himself is not directly elected, dissolve and indefinitely prorogue a democratically-elected Parliament, elected by the people of Guyana?
No Constitution in the modern world has an equivalent of article 70 and it must be removed.
What of the travesty that is the president’s right to ‘appoint’ a prime minister? What is stopping the opposition from calling a referendum to ask the people of Guyana to make article 165, which allows the National Assembly to regulate its own procedure, into a permanent article only altered by a referendum? After all, the Chief Justice has validated this article in his ruling upholding the sovereignty and independence of Parliament to run its own business.
What about the president’s veto power under article 170 of the constitution?
I am no lawyer, but why aren’t the lawyers in the AFC and PNC/APNU having a public debate over this provision of the Constitution when it is a sham that a president who is not separately and directly elected gets to block the efforts of Parliament?
I know the veto is a feature of every presidential system but let’s be honest, Guyana is no proper presidential system. The president is elected through elections to Parliament by piggybacking on a party list as its head. There is no separate vote to elect the president like in the USA where there is an Electoral College vote, or in South Africa, where the elected Parliament votes on a president.
This ridiculous mess of a constitutional system created by the PNC and embraced by the PPP puts power in the hands of a minority president that he did not get in an election in the first place. The problem gets worse when we realize there is no separation of powers like in the USA and other proper presidential systems, because the Guyana President can openly interfere and influence legislature (Parliament) because he is allowed to handpick elected members of Parliament to his Cabinet. These ministers sit in Cabinet and then sit in Parliament where they lead their party’s business, dominating proceedings. This allows the executive to inordinately influence the legislature.
The grave headache with this dangerous arrangement is because of Guyana’s current and future predicted demographic and political changes, no party is likely to ever win a majority again for the foreseeable future, so we are stuck with a future of minority governments/presidencies. It is exactly for these reasons we should consider fixing this ridiculous veto power.
Why should a president who won a minority of seats in Parliament get to not only put his minions in his Cabinet into Parliament, but also retain the veto to override laws passed by the majority of Parliament? That entire meme destroys the integrity of the entire country’s democratic process.
To completely remove the presidential veto entirely may not be the answer because as long as the presidency stays, there has to be some form of veto.
With a future of minority presidencies and with the distinct possibility of many smaller parties emerging and forming coalitions to get legislation passed in Parliament, it would be inimical to the country’s future to have a president of a party with only a plurality, rejecting bills passed by majority coalitions which may not meet the two-thirds supermajority requirement to bypass the presidential veto, but is quite close to it.
A future where if the President rejects the Bill he must refer it back to Parliament for reconsideration and if this fails he must send the Bill to a referendum.
That works better. Or possibly a system where the Bill goes to the highest court in the land for constitutional review and if deemed good, the President must sign it.
These are all issues which the opposition should be raising hell about in 2013.
The PPP will lose serious political capital if it refuses to sign anti-corruption legislation or blocks a Bill demanding more ethnic balance in the armed forces. These are the bills the opposition needs to produce in 2013.
How can the PNC/APNU or AFC refuse to push this legislative agenda, knowing these legislative moves will equalize the playing field for them and for all Guyanese? At the end of this year (God willing), I will return to this very letter and the uncomplicated and achievable laws within the easy reach of the opposition in 2013. My assessment will be simple: either a passing or a failing grade.
M. Maxwell

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