The uncloaked Dictator

Nov 16, 2014 AFC Column

One of the key features of a functioning democracy is an acceptance by the government of the day that its authority to govern has been granted by the people and can be withdrawn by the people. The hallmark of dictatorship, on the other hand, is a reluctance of a government to accept the temporary nature of the powers it enjoys.
The primary objective of the Dictator is to hold office indefinitely and therefore, faced with the possibility of having to demit office due to a lack of popular support, the Dictator will inevitably find ways to subvert the will of the people. Your average Dictator does not consider himself a Dictator and can always find seemingly plausible reasons for actions taken to remain in power and to stifle political opposition.
“Bring it on,” said President Donald Ramotar, before doing everything in his power to avoid the AFC’s No-Confidence motion being brought before the elected representatives of the people of this country. His declaration on November 4th that “…..were this not to be so, and I am provided with reasons to believe that the Parliamentary Opposition intends to disrupt Government’s business by forcing a debate on their No Confidence Motion, I resolve to respond immediately by exercising my Constitutional options to either Prorogue or Dissolve Parliament paving the way for holding of General Elections‎,” shows that he is aware of the option to dissolve Parliament.
The tendency towards dictatorship has been evident for a number of years and the President’s Proclamation on November 10th, proroguing the Parliament, has confirmed what has always been suspected. The Dictator has now stumbled out of the closet and revealed his priorities to the world. He and his Government are clearly seeking to seize power from the people of Guyana and so, given the choice between dissolving Parliament to face the electorate and proroguing Parliament to shut out the political representatives of the majority, they have chosen the latter.
It cannot be overemphasized here that in a functioning democracy, the appropriate option for dealing with the situation faced by the PPP-C government would have been the dissolution of Parliament. By employing a constitutional measure, the sole purpose of which was to safeguard the powers of a previous dictator, the PPP-C is now dancing in the dung of its arch-nemesis.
The President must surely have very little regard for the intelligence of his own supporters if he expects them to believe that by proroguing the Parliament he is “paving the way for holding of General Elections.” This is achieved by dissolving the Parliament and not by proroguing. He must also be living in a bubble if he honestly believes that proroguing Parliament will allow him to “continue to engage the Parliamentary Opposition in constructive ways, in addressing the issues confronting Guyana.”
The AFC will not engage him or his government until he reconvenes the Parliament and allows the majority of our country’s elected representatives to participate in the process of governing the country as provided for in the same Constitution from which he derives the power to prorogue.
It is perhaps the inability of the Government to grasp the most simple messages coming from its political opponents that have caused much of the problems affecting the tenth parliament. On several major issues arising since the inception of this Parliament, the AFC has articulated very clear and principled positions which, instead of addressing, the Government has misunderstood, misrepresented and misinterpreted. In doing so it has wasted the nation’s time and failed to get things done.
Amaila Falls – The AFC voted against funding for this project and made it clear that it would approve funding for the project whenever the IDB completed its assessment and gave its approval for the funds to be released from the GRIF. The AFC stated its refusal to support further legislation required for the project’s financers to continue considering the project unless the Government approved Local Government reform legislation. An agreement was reached and the AFC supported the required legislative amendments to facilitate the project.
AML/CFT – The AFC made it clear in April of 2013 that it would support the amendments to the AML/CFT Act tabled by the Government as soon as the Government fulfills its obligation under the Constitution to establish a Public Procurement Commission to oversee and regulate the awarding of Government Contracts. This position still stands. The Government has ignored all AFC initiatives to bring about the establishment of the Public Procurement Commission, choosing instead to go on a scare-mongering campaign to pressure the opposition into supporting the Bill. It is notable that eighteen months ago the Government caused great panic in our country on this issue which today still has not been resolved.
LCDS – The AFC has made it clear that its support for those LCDS projects funded by Norway through the GRIF would only be given when the agreed-upon partner agencies have completed their assessments and given approval for the release of funds from the GRIF. Once the individual projects have been approved, the Minister of Finance merely has to provide a supplementary estimate for approval in the National Assembly. The Government’s response was to use the resources of the State to facilitate a massive propaganda campaign against the political opposition in Guyana’s Amerindian communities. This ongoing exercise is a low and shameless form of abuse against our Amerindian brothers and sisters who have little access to independent information on what is really taking place in the National Assembly.
Budget cuts – The AFC stated its reasons for not supporting some of the major capital projects contained in the Finance Minister’s annual estimates of expenditures, as well as its rationale for refusing to fund NCN and GINA for three consecutive years. The Specialty Hospital and the Cheddi Jagan Airport Expansion Project in particular raised serious questions about how this government does business and what its priorities are.
In response to the non-approval of certain expenditures by the National Assembly, the Government through its Minster of Finance has decided to withdraw monies from the Consolidated Fund for purposes for which no monies have been appropriated. This directly contravenes the very specific Constitutional provisions contained in Article 217 regarding withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund. The Minister pretends that a High-Court ruling on the constitutionality of the reduction of his Estimates by the National Assembly gives him the authority to withdraw from the Consolidated Fund monies which have not been appropriated – and Civil society nods. The AFC says this is nonsense.
Perhaps our newly uncloaked Dictator can explain to the nation in one of his addresses just how he intends to run this country without the participation of the Parliament. On what authority, for instance, will his Minister of Housing take taxpayers’ money to build bridges over our Capital’s canals as recently announced? What is his plan? Does he even have one? Guyanese have a right to know what to expect.