New leaders must rise up with practical and innovative ways to heal our wounds

Sep 02, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The famous Chinese Philosopher and poet Lao Tzu famously said, “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
I do not pretend to be a leader, but having considered our past and current political conditions in Guyana, it is incumbent that new leaders rise up with practical and innovative ways to heal the wounds of today and yesterday.
Comparatively speaking, we are a very small nation, unknown to most of the world (except when Jim Jones is mentioned), but very innovative and with a population that is always prepared to give of their best when asked to do it. I say innovative, because it amazes me to see that Guyanese can make anything work. This innovation must be credited to Forbes Burnham who banned almost everything, so the people were forced to make the things they have work for them. The people have done a great job at making things work.
In the Bible there is a book called Proverbs. In chapter 29 verse 18 it says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Imagine the innovation of the Guyanese people, yet the political leaders seem to have no vision. I salute the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago who seems to show more intestinal certitude than almost all of our leaders in Guyana.
It is a travesty for the people of our country who deserve better. I have proposed that we rewrite our constitution and dramatically change the way we have governed our country. A few of my proposals are a non-executive President, a Prime Minister who will head the Executive branch of Government, and a Fulltime Parliament. My proposals are as follows:
PARLIAMENT
Each Parliamentarian will be elected within their own constituent of 25,000 persons (men, women, and children) by 50% plus 1 vote.
Parliament will be fulltime. A Parliamentarian will NOT be a Minister of Government.
PRIME MINISTER
The Prime Minister will be elected directly by the entire electorate with 50% plus 1 vote.
The Prime Minister will be the Head of Government.
The Prime Minister will nominate 12 persons to be ministers of government. The nominee must be approved by a simple majority of parliament.
The Prime Minister will nominate 9 members for each constitutional board. Each nominee must be approved by a simple majority of parliament.
PRESIDENT
The President will be elected directly by the people with 50% plus 1 vote.
The President will be the Head of State and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
All constitutional boards will report to the President.
END OF RACIAL VOTING
My proposal for the reduction or elimination of racial voting will require that EACH political party MUST be composed of all ethnic groups within Guyana that is proportionate to the ethnic composition of the population. In other words, if the population is 40% Indian origin, 30% African origin, 20% mixed race, and 10% Amerindian, then in order for any political party to contest an election it MUST have that composition in its leadership and members. Obviously this combination will change after every census to reflect the new reality. It will be the responsibility of the Elections Commission to ensure that this mechanism is in place.
This applies only to a political party that seeks to contest for political office. Any individual will be allowed to contest for any seat within any constituency without the need to fulfill this requirement. However, that individual will have to secure a set number of signatures within the constituency, or a deposit on their nomination, or both. If the individual does not get a certain percentage of the total votes cast, the deposit made will be forfeited. This will likely reduce the amount of independent candidates, and be less complicated for the elections commission.
The American President Harry Truman said, “Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better”.
Charles Sugrim

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New leaders must rise up with practical and innovative ways to heal our wounds

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