The end result is what really frightens Mr. Bisram

Aug 08, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Vishnu Bisram writes in the Kaieteur News Letter Columns of 5 August 2015 that, “Guyana cannot be governed by one race or political party”.
What Mr Bisram wrote is true, that Guyana cannot be ruled by one race or political party. The only thing is that Mr Bisram forgot all about this while the PPP was in power between 1992 and 2015.
The human mind is a strange organ. Mr Bisram also writes, “the fraudulent Burnham Constitution has outlived its period”.  Deduction suggests we must imagine that the fraudulent constitution still served a good purpose while the PPP was in power. Now that the PPP is out of power it has outlived its period.  He craftily uses the term “Burnham Constitution”.
We don’t need to remind him. He knows that the PPP ruled Guyana with the same constitution for the past 23 years. Why did Mr Bisram not campaign relentlessly against the “fraudulent Burnham Constitution” during the PPP’s rule? Why did Mr Bisram not declare the results of all elections done under the Burnham Constitution and which the PPP won since 1992, invalid.
One cannot forget the glee with which Mr Bisram commented on the results of pre-election polls before 2011, which all predicted PPP victories. He celebrated those PPP victories under the same constitution.
He may have forgotten, but one recalls the PPP mocking Mr Hoyte and Mr Corbin when power sharing  was proposed to the PPP. I do not recall Mr Bisram preaching the gospel of power sharing in support of Hoyte and Corbin.
Mr. Bisram did not remember during the PPP’s 23-year rule all the things he is saying today about a power sharing government. He was quite happy with the PPP in power and with absolute power.
No one can argue against power sharing in the context of Guyana. We are only disgusted by Mr Bisram’s hollow conversion since 11 May 2015. Ten weeks ago?
It would have been really helpful if, during the past 23 years, Mr Bisram had mobilized all the like-minded believers and relentlessly challenged the PPP to change the constitution as he did before 1992. But he was relatively silent.
No question, several things in the Constitution should be changed, particularly, the untrammelled powers and limited accountability of the President; greater independence and powers of the regions; the need for truly independent Legislature and Judiciary; the need for independence of the following which should report only to Parliament, the Central Bank, Bureau of Statistics, Revenue Authority, Elections Commission, Competition Authority;  the freedom of access to information;  and absolute protection of the individual and private property, to name a few.
Mr. Bisram should have, every day for the past 23 years, attacked the PPP for continuing to rule under the fraudulent Burnham Constitution. If he did, then today we would celebrate his principled stand. We would have known that he always stood on an unshakable principle. What he really wants to do, however, is to diminish the powers now available to the APNU-AFC administration.
The said Mr. Bisram, in the same letter of 5 August 2015, preaches to Guyana that “…there is need for multi-party governance…” We know that and we agree. The only thing is that Mr Bisram fails, or more likely, chooses to ignore that six parties make up the APNU-AFC coalition, accounting in one stroke for both multi-party and multi-ethnic governance.
The people of Guyana chose APNU-AFC on 11 May 2015.  Mr Bisram should reflect deeply on their intelligence in choosing a government that met the multi-party and multi ethnic criteria.
Did he imagine that the AFC negotiated for two Vice-Presidents and the Prime Ministership for the fun of being party to a coalition, or did it negotiate mechanisms that genuinely represent the Indo-Guyanese community with real power that will be exercised and tempered in cooperation with other groups through the coalition? Why is he recommending to the Guyanese people a course of action which they have already taken?
This APNU-AFC model is such a good start that his initial fear is that it could actually succeed. We can only conclude that it scares Mr Bisram that a successful APNU-AFC coalition government will be devastating for the PPP, since it will obviously mean that the APNU-AFC will draw more and more support from all the ethnic groups.
The end result is what really frightens him, that is, such a process will ultimately cause the PPP to shrink as a force. This is why he invokes the term Burnham Constitution, to generate fear among the Indo-Guyanese, hoping to keep them corralled in the PPP.
In case he did not notice let us remind him again, that on 11 May 2015 Guyanese elected and have since established a genuine, legitimate, and decent multi-ethnic and multi-party government. So Mr Bisram, look harder. The rest of the world has already seen this new Guyanese paradigm, even if you choose to play ignorant.
Ivor Carryl

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