An imperative civic initiative

Jan 07, 2015 Editorial

Running elections in Guyana is an extremely costly exercise. In the past, the technical and financial assistance provided by the international community has in great measure helped to essentially purchase a public confidence in the integrity of the process.
This continued assistance needs to be sustained if the democratic process is going to survive.
Our elections have historically been very fractious processes, marked by extreme suspicion and a failure by the losers to accept the will of the people. Had the international community not been involved, the difficulties with both funding and technical support would have become more overwhelming and fueled greater suspicion and instability.
But in as much as the donor support for a costly exercise is welcome, in as much as expert technical support is appreciated, Guyana needs to look forward to the day when we can totally manage and fund our own elections in a way that would lead to public acceptance and confidence in the process.
We can never really be a sovereign nation unless we fully take control of the electoral machinery and avoid the dependence on foreign funding. For the time being that remains a goal to be worked towards.
In the interim, it is hoped that international funding will accelerate the preparation for free and fair elections and that GECOM would now move into overdrive in order to be ready for the upcoming polls.
As much as GECOM can be prepared for an election, hanging ominously over the entire exercise remains the threat of deliberate mischief by those who have designs to disrupt the process in order to make the country ungovernable.
Not only is it important that the preparations be in place to ensure the minimizing of hiccups, but also that there is a plan for ensuring that post-election unrest is avoided and that the losers are gracious in defeat.
Elections in 1992, 1997 and 2001 were followed by tragic incidents of violence and political terrorism. The police have frequently been found wanting in crushing the acts of terror which because of their political character, require political solutions. The true test of the professionalism of the Guyana Police Force will be its ability to deal with any trouble that is likely to emerge in the build-up to and just after the elections.
Civil society is challenged to come up with a plan that would commit all the parties involved to respecting the will of the people and taking a firm stand against violence. We seriously urge an initiative that seeks to commit all the parties involved to a renunciation of the use of violence both during the upcoming election campaign and afterwards. We can hardly boast of being a democratic nation if the will of the people is saluted election after election with violence and social unrest.
Equally important to the process of peace is the presence of international observers whose certification as to the fairness and freeness of the election forms an independent judgment of the process.
As early as possible, attempts should be made to ensure the presence of a coordinated international observer mission with observers drawn from the Commonwealth, the Organization of American States and CARICOM. A coordinated mission comprising eminent leaders and statesmen will in some measure, help to allay the fears of Guyanese who are worried about the possibilities of violence accompanying the elections.
If at the end of this year’s election Guyanese are not able to move forward as a united nation, the democratic process would have suffered a mortal blow. It is important, therefore, that a civic initiative be launched as soon as is convenient, to do all that is possible outside of the formal preparations to ensure that the forthcoming polls leave us intact as a nation.

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