The most important cause at this juncture of Guyana’s political history

Jul 09, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Almost 21 years after the PPP/C came to power and two years after the ground-breaking 2011 general elections, our country stands at the crossroads. From its earliest hours as a political movement, the WPA has devoted its resources and energies to overcoming and healing the racial division of our people, which we, the members, have always seen as the single most stubborn obstacle to our national development. The WPA reiterates its commitment to National Reconciliation as the single most important political cause at this juncture of Guyana’s political history.
Despite several opportunities to push for a political solution that would guarantee a fair and just system of governance, we continue to operate and malfunction within a political framework that privileges one-party domination and political exclusion. This has fostered a political economy that is deformed by cronyism, corruption and criminality; this has in turn reduced engagement among the parties to an unbecoming display of opportunism, one-upmanship and zero sum politics. The WPA stands by Professor Clive Thomas’ characterization of this development as the criminallization of the state.
Allied to the criminalization of the state there has, since 1992, been a rejection by the PPP, at party and government levels, of all efforts at national reconciliation and arguments for the formation of a national government. The WPA views this as both a betrayal of the ideals of the pro-democracy forces which fought for the restoration of free and fair elections and a violation of the democratic principle of equality.
It is against this background that the WPA argued and worked for the creation of a broad alliance to contest against the PPP at the 2011 elections. For the WPA, the emergence of APNU has been one of the most significant developments in modern Guyanese political history. This belief was confirmed by the results of the election that saw the PPP lose its parliamentary majority and ushered in, for the first time since Independence, a divided government.
The WPA interpreted those results as a popular endorsement of APNU’s campaign for a national government and as an opening for the creation of such a government. It was a matter of considerable disappointment that the President-elect failed to exercise his constitutional right to create a Government of National Unity. His failure to do so has in effect foisted a minority government on the country, creating in the process an unsettled and unsettling political situation. The WPA viewed such a development as a signal by the PPP that it intended to preserve one-party rule at all cost, even if this meant pushing the country further down the road of dictatorial rule.
While the WPA, in the interest of national reconciliation, has supported, albeit cautiously, the decision by the joint opposition to engage the Executive in dialogue since the election, we are disappointed that the engagement has yielded little in the way of positive outcomes. The government seems bent on using the dialogue as a means of neutralizing the opposition while persisting with the policies and practices of the pre-2011 era.
While the government has finally yielded to the opposition’s demand to involve the parties in the preparation of the budget at the start rather than at the end of the budget cycle, the President’s veto of bills passed by the National Assembly,  the secrecy over shabby/fraudulent ill-prepared investment agreements with external investors, as well as the PPP/C’s stubborn refusal to submit its nominees to the Public Accounts Committee and thereby enable the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission are disincentives to meaningful engagement.
In light of these developments, the WPA feels compelled to urge a rethink of the opposition’s approach to engaging the government. Further dialogue and cooperation with the government should be tied to the following:
· The removal of obstacles to the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission.
· The rescinding of the Radio licences granted by the outgoing Jagdeo administration and the amendment of the Broadcast Act to bring the legislation in line with international best practice.
· The placing of NICIL, Lotto, GGMC and all other funds into the Consolidated Fund.
· A Code of Conduct for all Ministers and Senior Public Sector officials.
· An end to the setting-up of IMCs and a commitment to the holding of Local Government Elections by the end of 2013.
· The immediate establishment of an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate instances of official corruption at all levels of the state.
· The re-submission to the National Assembly of the Bills vetoed by the President once an independent judicial review determines that the legislation, contrary to the advice of the Attorney General, did not violate the Constitution.
· The freeing of the state-owned broadcast and print media from the control of the ruling party to ensure unbiased news coverage and unobstructed access to the widest range of political opinions. In addition, the restructuring of the boards of all state media to reflect the composition of Parliament.
· The release to parliamentary parties of up-to-date economic feasibility study of the Amaila Falls project; the Power Purchase Agreement of GPL; Marriott Hotel; and Bai Shan Lin.
· The setting up of Commissions of Inquiry that include Cultural /Social Audits of NCN, GPL, GuySuCo and GGMC.
The WPA doubts that the cause of National Reconciliation can be significantly advanced in the absence of a National Government comprising all parliamentary parties willing to be included. Towards this end, we urge a public campaign aimed at winning popular support for such a government and, without further delay, activate the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform and set in motion the process of constitutional reform aimed at its realization.
The WPA will be fighting both inside APNU, and in its own name, for the implementation of all of these proposals.
David Hinds
WPA Executive member

 

 

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