Cabinet solidarity in coalition regimes is pathetic nonsense

Aug 30, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I was at a fish and chips lime with three AFC officials – Michael Carrington, Leonard Craig and Marlon Williams. Naturally there would be a defence of AFC politics from these gentlemen when it comes to a critique of the AFC’s performance since it got into government. This columnist can argue a strong, plausible case for poor intellectualizing by the AFC and the retention inside the brain of the AFC of very old political culture, expressions of which are inherent in the collective character of the PPP (see my column of April 15 of this year, “The AFC’s conduct may be bordering on dishonesty.”).
David Hinds told me that column drew irascible reactions from the AFC. I was not aware of that, but there isn’t anything in that column that cannot be substantiated. The General-Secretary, David Patterson replied to me privately. I am not at liberty to discuss his defence, except to say I did reject his explanations. My sources I would say are impeccable; I stand by the word, “impeccable”. Since that column I have seen more Jagdeo-like mentality in the AFC. Of course I am not a member of the AFC. I have personal friends in the AFC, but I would only join a political party that is ontologically working class.
The AFC is not the only party that practices Jagdeo-style deportment. The PNC is full of it. The WPA has turned out to be one of the most dishonest and dishonourable political parties Guyana ever produced. Rodney should rise up from his grave and banish whatever is left of the WPA into the bowels of Hades. How interesting that Tacuma Ogunseye has demanded to know how his co-leader, Rupert Roopnaraine voted in Cabinet on the salary increase for public servants. But why pick on Roopnaraine only? Where is the WPA itself?
In the discussion with Carrington, Craig and Williams, the question of Cabinet solidarity came up. I immediately upped my decibels and vanquished the notion that there exists the concept of cabinet solidarity in coalition governments. There is no such thing. Cabinet solidarity only thrives in a unitary government which came about as a result of proportional representation. Here the leader of the party is pragmatically the maximum leader.
In government that came about through first-past-the post voting, cabinet solidarity is never assured, because Ministers are always under the microscopic lenses of their constituencies. What happens then is that Ministers are forced to go public with the way they voted in cabinet, because if cabinet voted for fracking in his/her district and his constituency is dead set against fracking, then he/she has to go to the constituency and tell them how the vote went.
There is no such thing as cabinet solidarity in coalition regimes, because it is a contradiction in terms. How can you say the mango is sweet bad but very bitter? The two cannot be reconciled. Bittersweet taste is not a scientific term but a romantic phrase, and is popular in literature, but has no place in science. Either the milk is good or it has turned. You cannot have turned milk that is good to drink. You cannot have a unitary cabinet if there are several parties that make up the government. The loyalty of each party is to country, party and supporters.
I am not going to define what a coalition regime is here (see my definition of coalition government and the nature of such government in my column of July 19, 2016.) What the PNC, AFC and WPA have been doing is to mask their opportunism, by telling Guyanese they cannot speak about this and that, because that is not the way Cabinet operates; Ministers have to show solidarity with the Cabinet. That is not only foolish but dishonest.
No coalition member in a government would talk such nonsense. They cannot say that, because they will get into trouble with their respective leaderships. Tacuma Ogunseye wrote a letter to this newspaper quoting his co-leader in the WPA, Dr. Roopnaraine, as telling the WPA he cannot tell the WPA what transpires in Cabinet because such information can get out. The WPA is virtually dead, and I maintain that. If it is still alive then it has to recall Dr. Roopnaraine.
According to basic coalition power configuration, Dr. Roopnaraine has to report to his party on the way he votes, so as to synchronize his voting pattern with WPA’s manifesto, core values and programmatic agenda. That is what each party in a coalition does. Happily, Khemraj Ramjattan has come out of this nonsense and announced that he doesn’t know how the PNC in Cabinet will vote on the marijuana Bill.

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One thought on “Cabinet solidarity in coalition regimes is pathetic nonsense”

george wiltshire August 30, 2016 at 3:35 am

I think that the weed (marijuana) should remain illegal. Those who are to use it for medical purposes should have a doctor’s prescription to cover use.

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