A weary society demanding positive change

Dec 31, 2014 Editorial

The society has been saying for many years that it has had enough with the fiercely divisive nature of politics in Guyana. Each party seems willing to score political points at the expense of the wider society; each panders to its followers to the exclusion of others in the society.
This has been the case for as long as one cares to remember and until now, nobody has seen it fit to do anything about it. Instead, people became apathetic in public but angry within the confines of the homes at what passed for government.
In recent times, people became increasingly worried about victimization and so they would say things, in public, that they suspected one party or the other wanted to hear. It had reached the stage where people with genuine problems would rather seek out the help of reporters to air their grievances, but were quick to beg that their identity be protected.
For decades we have been living in a society in which speaking ill of the government was tantamount to treason. We have people who cannot secure contracts; regardless of how competitive is their tender. The reason is that they happen to be from the “other side”.
There have been documented cases of contracts being awarded, with the works being duly tendered for and persons winning the tender but never getting the chance to execute the works, because a big-wig takes it upon himself to award the contract to a relative on the ground that the individual who won was “from the other side.”
The wronged individual never publicly challenges the non-receipt of the award because he/she feels that he/she has to work with the administration and any untoward comment would relegate him/her to the sidelines forever.
These and other incidents, including the apparent reluctance to initiate prosecutions into various scams and other frauds, have caused people to lump particularly the two major political parties into one lot that should be disregarded by the wider society.
The emergence and relatively rapid elevation of a third force is a reflection of how people view the legacy of the political parties that have been responsible for the welfare of this country over the years.
Traditionally, third forces have never done well in this part of the world, save for the United Force in the early 1960’s.
In every other Caribbean country none has emerged to seriously challenge the main political parties.
There are people who have held on to a far-fetched hope in recent years that history would be made in Guyana, such is their disillusionment with the two main parties. These people are adamant that a different force in government would make an impact on national life.
The two major races have been living in this country for more than 150 years. They shared hardships in years past and they recognized that they needed each other. That need of each other has not changed, but the very people who recognise the need allow themselves to fall prey to the hostilities spewed by their political leaders. The social scientists blame this on ethnic insecurities.
The harsh reality is that many people feel that they are justified to have such insecurities. They point to the exclusion from jobs for which they are eminently qualified; they point to the treatment they receive at the hands of criminals and above all, they point to their social standing that is largely dictated by their economic position.
From all appearances it seems as if only a political entity that seeks to genuinely embrace all the races in this country will flourish. This is now clearly a society demanding change – a change in politicians’ approaches to bread and butter issues and the wellbeing of the ordinary citizen. It is now left to be seen whether the rational leaders will step forward and be counted or if those set in their destructive ways will make even more virulent calls to race-based support.

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