The American Embassy has to do more for Guyana

Aug 30, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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It is only an uninformed person or a citizen who wants to self-deceive that would deny that the Americans cannot get the Guyana Government to act more responsibly, show more respect for the Constitution and advise the Guyana Government that grave instabilities in Guyana would have a ripple effect in the region.
That uninformed person may not know, but the US has enormous leverage on small, internationally obscure nations like Guyana. Through extensive influence in international organizations that offer vital multilateral assistance to Guyana, the US Government could transmit its displeasure to the Guyanese rulers about terrible governance.
If it has not happened, it is because the US does not want to do it. If the US does it, there would be a happier nation, because the entire population is dissatisfied with the eternal quarrels between the PPP and the major opposition organizations. In all sincerity, most PPP supporters feel that Guyana will explode one day. I talk to people who say this to me without even a speck of condemnation for the PPP. They just feel Guyana’s politics is deadly wrong and they would like to live in Guyana without the fear of that explosion that may come one day.
It is not that there are grey areas that the US Embassy seems confused about. Since the 2011 elections results, politics has been as straightforward as when the PPP had a majority in Parliament before 2011. The opposition controls the legislature and the Constitution gives it authority to act accordingly. The PPP won the presidency and the Constitution gives Mr. Ramotar the power to act accordingly. Where are the grey areas?
The Constitution is not written in a language humans cannot understand. The legislature, not the opposition legislature (there is no such concept) makes laws, and through its committee systems can effect changes in state institutions. On the other hand, the presidency has widespread state authority. Simply put, then, one cannot and should not dominate the other. Stability is assured through the meticulous acceptance of the articles of the Constitution by both sides. Here is where the US Embassy or the US Government (whichever term you prefer) comes in.
If the presidency is conducting itself in a governance style that violates the Constitution, then the opposition in any country is not going to accept that. If on the other hand, the opposition wants to administer state institutions, then no president or prime minister will concede to that. We return to the grey areas. Except for the court matter of cutting the budget, it is the presidency that seems to be in conflict with the Constitution.
When the quarrels exploded between the combined opposition and the Government over the separation of power after the opposition won a Parliamentary majority, I proposed that one of the ways of taming bad governance was for APNU and the AFC to inform friendly government, civil society and other stakeholders that it will not recognize the presidency if the presidency does not adhere to the Constitution.
Simply put, the PPP was saying that our party won the presidency because the Constitution stipulates that the Executive goes to the party with the largest number of votes. Fair enough! But you cannot use the Constitution as a convenience. The very Constitution has brought into being the Procurement Commission. There still isn’t one. The very Constitution allows for a Human Rights Commission. There still isn’t one.
My honest belief is that nowhere in Europe or the US or Latin America, muchless in competitive Africa, a minority party would hold on to power citing the Constitution, but refuses to recognize the very Constitution that allows the opposition to have some form of state authority. The Republican Party in the US would never accept that. Another honest belief of mine is that the Guyanese opposition is a remarkable one, in that for two years it has acted without poisonous outbursts in this peculiar situation.
The US Embassy or Government comes in because APNU’s leaders may have felt annoyed at the US Ambassador for requesting opposition support for the Amaila Falls Hydro Project investment, while he does not bring pressure to bear on the presidency for ignoring many articles of the Constitution.
I end with an interesting piece of American pressure on St. Lucia that the opposition needs to study. The US Government has ceased all types of assistance (including training) to the St. Lucian police force, because of allegations of wanton police killings. Surely, something is wrong here. The Guyana Police Force is burdened with more such controversies than its counterpart in St. Lucia. The US needs to pressure the Executive to observe the Constitution.

 

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