The latest Jimmy Carter Initiative

Jul 22, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Why would former US President Jimmy Carter be privately urging dialogue between President David Granger and the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo? What could have triggered this latest intervention?

Judging from their reaction, the supporters of the PNCR are not pleased with this intervention. They still have misgivings about Carter, since they view him as being responsible for free and fair elections which saw the PNCR booted out of power after 28 years between 1964 and 1992. Elements within Granger’s own government do not seem overly excited by the prospects of dialogue between the government and the opposition. With the PNCR’s Congress one month away, such talks change the entire agenda of that event and upsets well-laid plans.

The Leader of the Opposition, by broaching the recent discussion held with Jimmy Carter, is effectively signaling an end to the PPPC’s campaign of non-cooperation with government. This campaign had commenced after the decision of the President to appoint a Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission.

Carter’s intervention came as a surprise because there have been no calls locally for political dialogue between the two sides. Following the ingenious charges laid against Winston Brassington and Ashni Singh – one a professional and the other a former Finance Minister – the Private Sector Commission had sounded concern over the hostile political climate, but even this could hardly have been the basis for an intervention by Jimmy Carter.

Carter has had a long involvement in the political processes in Guyana. He led a successful mission between 1990 and 1992 which forced former President Desmond Hoyte to make changes to the dubious electoral system. These changes eventually allowed for free and fair elections, and Carter’s ‘quick count’ even before the results of the 1992 elections was formally announced, ensured that the PNC could not risk any late hour jiggery-pokery. There is no doubt about Carter’s role in restoring democracy in Guyana.

The Carter Center has played a similar role in ensuring democratic elections in other parts of the world, following the end of the Cold War. It was part of a larger ideological project of Jimmy Carter, aimed at ensuring the dominance of the neo-liberal order. The thinking was that free markets could not thrive without democracy and respect for human rights, and this is what is behind the work of the Carter Center.

The Carter Center defines itself as being concerned with peace, disease and human rights, but its main role is about ensuring the entrenchment of the neo-liberal order in transition countries.

The Carter Center has long been of the view that the holding of free and fair elections was not enough to ensure the survival of young democracies. Poor countries in transition to democracy and free markets needed development support. It was for this reason that the Carter Center played a role a key role in assembling bilateral donors to pledge resources for the reconstruction of Guyana after 1992.

The Carter Center also helped to draft a National Development Strategy which Hoyte refused to accept until a compromise was brokered, by which time the end product developed by former PNCR General Secretary Kenneth King, ended up being such an overly ambitious and unrealistic document that not even the PPP would touch it.

Carter did not come to the 1997 elections in Guyana. His absence was exploited by the PNC to create mayhem in the country. He came for the 2001 elections and pronounced on the validity of that vote and urged political dialogue. By 2006, however, Carter effectively washed his hands of Guyana, claiming he had other priorities around the world. This was a sign of the frustration with the dialogue between the two parties.

In 2006, the Carter Center fielded a small mission to the country’s elections. But by the time the 2015 elections rolled by, he saw it necessary to be present for those polls before ill-health forced him to shorten his stay.

The present reengagement with Guyana comes at a time when there are concerns about the emerging threat to democracy in Guyana, and consequently to the neo-liberal order. It comes at a time when there is growing concern about the actions of the government, its obsession with dominating the political space, its attack on freedom of expression, its unilateral appointment of a Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, threats to the rule of law, and its uncompromising approach to parliamentary politics. These are enough reasons to be concerned that the PNCR is laying the groundwork for a return to its old discredited habits.

Carter, no doubt, recognizes that these developments can affect Guyana’s chances at utilizing its soon-to-be oil wealth for the country’s development. It could result, more importantly, in a reversal of the market economy and democratic rule, both of which are of primary concern to the Carter Center.

Carter, by his intervention, is making an attempt to protect his legacy of electoral democracy and in so doing, ensuring that Guyana does not squander its oil wealth and become, once again, a pariah nation in the global community of democratic nations.

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