CHANGE IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE!

Feb 12, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

There are lots of people out there who believe that the time for political change in Guyana is due. Some would say overdue.
There are lots of people who believe that there will be political change in Guyana come this May when elections are held. There are others who desire change and yet others who believe that they are the ones who will bring about this change because they have what it takes to vote the government out of office.
In summary, a great many people want change, believe that there should be change, expect change and hold themselves up as the solution that will achieve that change.
History has however taught us a lesson in life. Change does not come about because we wish it or because we desire it or because we expect it. Change is not about you and me wanting something or expecting something.
Change is about a confluence, a meeting of you and me with what the majority of the people want. Change, in other words, will only come about if this is what the vast majority of the people want. In other words, we may desire change, we may expect change and we may feel that we have done enough to earn that change but still, there may be no change achieved because our desire, ambition and means are not shared by a sufficient number of persons.
Unless our desires, belief and will are aligned with the vast majority of people, there will not be change and this is something that we have to learn to live with.
I am sure that in 1992 when 44 per cent of the Guyanese people voted for the People’s National Congress, this must have shocked many others who must have been flabbergasted that after all the suffering, deprivation and oppression that party when in government heaped upon the Guyanese people, the vote was so powerful. Who can forget the banning and restrictions on food items, the long lines, the humiliations of poor water supply over fifteen years of power outages, compromised drainage systems, the poor drainage and the rundown infrastructure? Who can forget the extra judicial killings, the death squad, the harassment of political parties and the denial of press freedom and of course the rigging of elections?
With such a record, once free and fair elections were guaranteed, change was expected. Change did come but a whooping 44% voted for the ruling party. This was not an irrational choice. It was not as if on October 5, 1992, the nation woke up and large numbers acted irrationally. No, this was a rational choice by 44% of the Guyanese people who continued to see their interest as being tied to then ruling party. For those in the other camp, it was a wake up call to the fact that there was a huge elephant in the room which could not be ignored.
In 2011, there must have been a large segment of the Guyanese society who believed that change had to come because of the rampant corruption within the government. But change did not come as expected. There was some change. A minority government broke the tradition of majority governments. Opposition supporters must have asked how this could be given all the wrong doings that had been exposed. But again, the ruling party gaining 49% of the total votes cast was not due to irrational choices. It was based on rational choices.
Democracy is about the right to choose. And this right recognizes that people will make rational choices based on their own interests and fears.
The real test of democracy is the willingness to accept these choices, however irrational or disagreeable they may seem.
Guyana goes to the polls on May 11. There are many who desire change while many equally do not want change. The real test would be the willingness to accept the choices of the people.
Democracy is about the losers accepting the fact that change is not always about what you desire or will. Change only comes about when sufficient numbers want change.
If change does not come on May 11, this is the will of the people and democracy is not just about the exercise of that will but about the acceptance of it, regardless of how inimical it is to any party.
Will the opposition parties accept the will of the people if they lose or will frustration take its toll? Is the opposition committed to democracy and to respecting the fact that if they lose the will of the people must prevail? And what about the ruling party, will they allow a smooth transition if they lose.
Democracy has its flaws. But it still remains the best system available to bring about change.

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