Guyanese need to be governed, not ruled

Jan 05, 2015 News

– Dr. Faith Harding

By Leon Suseran

Political activist and former Government Minister, Dr. Faith Harding believes Guyana can only move forward when political leaders start to govern the nation, instead of ruling the nation. Speaking exclusively to this newspaper last week, Dr. Harding stated that Guyana is at a point where there is widespread distrust throughout the government, opposition and society.
Guyana, she posited, needs to move out of the state of “rulership” it is currently in, to a state of “governance.”
The Government and combined Opposition parties have been at odds for several months, resulting in the Parliament being prorogued by President Donald Ramotar in November of last year. The Opposition had planned to table a No- Confidence Motion against the current PPP- led Administration. However, after several weeks of prorogation, Mr. Ramotar announced that General Elections will be held early this year. This has widened the political rift between the political parties.
Dr. Harding said that the situation between the Government and Opposition is brewing a climate of confusion, fear and the unknown.

Dr. Faith Harding

She noted that the politicians in Guyana are unaware of how to get Guyana to being a nation that can be governed, rather than being ruled.
“You have a society that cannot even trust themselves to manage our country,” she put forward.
She said that there is a lot of distrust of the politicians.
“There is no interest in political leadership. You will see people who feel displaced in their society; as the President has announced elections will be held—I have a feeling it won’t be early this year—I’m looking at late 2015 or early 2016,” she related.
She believes it is a bad idea for the current (PPP) administration to cut its term short and have elections. “I rather believe unless the government or President of this nation does something threatening to our safety, or outrageous, he should see through his term (in office)…I think Guyana needs that,” she added.
She questioned why Guyana should be the country with the highest negative social statistics, including highest suicide and alcohol rates in the world. She posited, too, that since Guyana ranks at number 38 in the happiness scale in the world, it means that the people are not really happy, thus they do not function to capacity.
“That’s frightening! It shows the status of the people in the country, who are being governed by rule, and not by people feeling free and happy!”
Dr. Harding noted that Guyana is a nation “at risk and disturbed.” “We are a suspicious nation; everybody suspects somebody of doing something. This situation weakens our ability to grow as a nation.”
She is of the opinion that everybody does not trust the President’s word, “and you get the sense that his words are not trusted; that the Opposition isn’t even trying to make this country better.” She questioned whether the Opposition parties are going out into the various communities and hosting the types of programmes to uplift the spirit of the people, “or to drag them down further, or to just ‘bad- talk’ the governance that is taking place?”
She added that numerous studies have shown that people do not want to come to Guyana anymore due to the current political climate. The interior is being highly neglected and is crying out for development and investment.
The Capital City, she said, also lacks leadership, trust and openness. “You have a capital that is filthy—we use to be very proud of our Garden City…today in Kitty, people are still using outhouses!”
She said that the officials within the Council need to go. “I need a big boot to get them out— and they are close to the [Demerara] River…send them on a boat sailing; let them have a vacation on the (Demerara) river.”
“And then they are having a meeting in the yard? Now, do I want my child to pattern his life after these people? You are role models! Is that what you are bringing up in the society? Is this what you want to transcend? Where’s the decency? Where’s the decorum in leadership— it doesn’t exist anymore— if at the Local Government level we can’t have it, and we don’t have it at the National and central level, what is going to happen to our nation? We are in crisis!”
She said that the only solution to the City Hall debacle is fresh elections, since none was held since 1994. “It’s time for elections! Some people need a big boot! They’ve done nothing while at the City Council! I don’t feel they represent me; they have done nothing for my community; they don’t have my interest; they don’t have meetings as a City Council for community residents. I’ve not had one meeting- and I’ve been living in that community for more than ten years -with one City Councilman or woman or anybody from the City Council who I would have voted for!”