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CODE OF CONDUCT NEEDED

Oct 22, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

The general election is years away, but the history of our general elections is often a truism that many, if not most of our politicians, who call for clean and fair elections, have conducted some of the dirtiest political campaigns.
The phenomenon of a clean and fair general election is an oxymoron hard to find in our history. And if they are, their infrequency gives little hope that the next election will be clean and free of rigging. We are neither cynical nor pessimistic, but our history suggests that the ideal is anachronistic. Many believe that elections have been rigged by both of the major parties.
Politics and power carry very high stakes, but for the winner, the spoils are significant. It is the opportunity to place one’s name in the history books of Guyana. For the loser, frustration and vexation are among the unwanted apparel of powerlessness one has to bear.
That said, the people are aware that it is their responsibility to must make sure that elections are devoid of rigging, mud-slinging, slander, lies, innuendo, and distortions.
This is an uphill task for our politicians many of whom do not have clean hands and are not paragons of honesty. Some are soiled by scandals, corruption, arrogance, selfishness, greed, vindictiveness and by nasty deeds. However, they often tap into the people’s weaknesses, make empty promises and tend to avoid the truth because it is ugly and unpleasant
The reality is that in every election, politicians make promises that they know they cannot fulfill. It is the nature of our politics. Irrespective of whatever negative social, political or economic situation that exists, every politician will have the right solutions for them, even if all are different.
Currently, the nation is faced with an economic situation that is affecting the lives of many people, some of whom cannot afford a university education or proper health care, or access to decent paying jobs and affordable housing. The foreign reserves are shrinking, production has reduced, imports have skyrocketed and the value of the dollar is declining; that is the reality. But politicians seeking power will sell a different reality to the masses. They would say that they have the solutions to these problems and can provide an oasis for them. The fact that many will believe is pitiful.
It is known that political parties make promises during general elections in order to win. Our politicians say they do not engage in such practice because they refuse to look at themselves in the mirror. So they are calling for a code of conduct to govern our elections. But there is no honest politician. There is no line of demarcation between the promises politicians make and the politics they sell is like night and day.
They want the people to believe that they are clean and will address the issues facing the nation if elected. Such is the construct of our democracy that our politicians will seek to justify their existence by presenting themselves as the best things for the people.
In countries like Guyana, where the race vote is such that a party could rule in perpetuity some politicians eventually see themselves as omnipotent. That is why the loss of the 2015 elections for the People’s Progressive Party caused some of them to enter a world that seems vaguely familiar but so strange; a world that they once lived in but cannot now accept. One on which they become the people they once fooled.

 

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