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The protest last Friday is the rise of civil society
Dear Editor,
For far too long we have been looking at our country’s future through the lens of politics and two political parties, the PPP and PNC (or whatever it’s called now). Like most former colonies of the slave masters, it was always the aim to consume the people under political camps as our minds are contaminated with gang war fare and propaganda fueling our fears.
On February 4th we saw something very significant in Guyana and that is civil society standing up for their right to be heard and challenging our political system for their incompetence. The bravery of the business community to risk reprisal for speaking out is admirable and shows a sign that there is hope.
Whether you agree or not and whether it is subliminal or not, our political system is the instrument of the colonial powers that dictate a desired outcome from our democratic process.
Civil Society as a collective has always been the cornerstone that must transform and guide our future, because it is inherently built with checks and balances through its diversity and desire to build economic growth on the backdrop of progressive and fair state apparatus and objective politicians.
Civil society strive on the things we all want in Guyana and that is security, economic growth, an efficient public service and transparency in fiscal management. As the City Council tries to “milk starving cows” with a vampire mentality, they are losing sight of what truly drives economic growth before implementing things like parking meters.
The City Council doesn’t seem to understand that running a city is similar to running a corporation, in many ways it is more like the private sector than a Government mechanism.
And this is because the City largely depends on businesses being successful and healthy circulation of money. Governments on the other hand, have other mechanism to depend on, such as natural resources and partnerships with other countries and organizations.
Therefore, it is critical that the City do not jump to the end, with things like parking meters, but instead start from the beginning by strengthening the existing system of tax collection and improving efficiency and transparency of the system. Then you can move on to attract more businesses by providing security and fast and easy process for getting businesses set up. After these things are in place, then you can move to parking meters and other side taxes, because at this stage you are hoping to have a healthy economy where people will be more inclined to support the City Council that supports them.
All the signals from the City Council show signs of corruption, in fighting, poor leadership and little to no vision. Therefore it is hard for the people to bestow trust on the Council, a trust that the Council must earn and cannot simply demand.
Civil Society must continue to protest for the things that are right and keep the pressure on this or any other government in the future and be that badly needed nonaligned third force that will defend the rights of the people and country when required. It is long overdue that politics should have its limits and not penetrate every aspect our lives.
Malcolm Watkins
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