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PRACTICING DIRTY POLITICS

Feb 27, 2018 Editorial, Features / Columnists

The government is midway through its five-year mandate which means that general elections are two and a half years away. Notwithstanding the history of such elections in Guyana, it is often a national truism that many, if not most of our politicians, who call for clean elections are frequently the practitioners of some of the dirtiest and most deceptive politics just to gain power.
While most of us are honest and are intoxicated by naïveté or a tunnel vision of the possibilities of the goodness of man, others insist that a clean general election is an oxymoron. The truth is the phenomenon of clean general elections is hard to find in the history pages of local politics. And if there were such occurrences, the infrequency gives little hope that there will be one in the future. Modern history suggests that the ideal is anachronistic.
Politics and power are high stakes games for winners who know that the spoils are significant. It is the opportunity to place their names in the history books. For the loser, the frustration and vexation and the unwanted apparel of powerlessness are difficult to bear. The nature of politics and the attainment of power dictate that politicians and the political process cannot be clean. It is the people who must make sure that general elections are clean and fair and devoid of rigging, mud-slinging, slander, lies, innuendo and distortions.
History has shown that this is a difficult task for the people, who are aware that politicians have not been known to have clean hands and are not seen as paragons of civility and honesty. This government like its predecessor has been soiled by scandals, corruption, arrogance, selfishness, vindictiveness and nasty deeds. But they often tap into the people’s weaknesses, make empty promises and avoid the truth, because it is ugly and unpleasant, and they do not want the anger that comes with it.
In the next general election, great promises will be made by all political parties and persons seeking power, because that is the nature of our politics. Irrespective of whatever negative social, political or economic situation exists, every politician will have the right solutions for them, even if all are different.
Currently, the nation is faced with an oil contract with ExxonMobil that could spell disaster for the country and affect the lives of people for decades. Many cannot afford a university education or proper health care or access to decent paying jobs and affordable land and 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 the ruling elite who signed such a lopsided contract with ExxonMobil are seeing a different reality in the country. They are of the firm belief that they have a very good contract and that ExxonMobil is a very generous company despite evidence to the contrary. They believe that they have all the solutions to these problems and know what is best for the country. They believe that the oil revenue will provide an oasis to the citizens. But the fact that many believe so is pitiful.
It is known that political parties make promises during general elections in their quest to win. Yet our politicians say they do not engage in such practice and have called for codes of conduct to govern elections to make sure that no one engages in such fantasies. But the politics they sell and reality on the ground are blurred
They want the masses 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 are vitally important, if not omnipotent, as some unwisely view them to be. To do otherwise would be to consign our reality to Hobbes’ notion that we are doomed to a life that is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

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