Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
The onus is on President Granger to engage the Opposition Leader on the way forward
Dear Editor,
In a year from now Guyana will observe its 50th anniversary as a Republic. A few years earlier, on May 26 1966, we celebrated the conferral of independence status from Great Britain after some150 years of British colonial rule. The relevant question is how much progress, if any, have we made in terms of race relations and governance in the context of our political and cultural diversity.
The history of Guyana is a history of struggle firstly against colonial rule and after the granting of independence in 1966, against PNC dictatorial rule. After the suspension of the Constitution in 1953, the British Government installed an interim government which lasted until 1957 when the PPP was re-elected to office. The PPP went on to win the elections in 1961 with a prior understanding by Britain that whichever party won that election would take the country to political independence.
The British Government reneged from that commitment under pressure from the United States and stalled the granting of political independence until after the PPP was engineered out of office in 1964 in what former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson described as ‘a fiddled constitutional arrangement.’
Those were the days when the Cold War was raging and the United States was unprepared to tolerate any leftist government in what it considered its backyard. The PPP paid the price of being perceived as a ‘communist’ party even though there was little if anything that the PPP did in terms of policy articulation and governance that suggested any such ideological predisposition. Yet, the United States, Britain and other western powers turned a blind eye to electoral fraud and constitutional manipulation which perpetuated undemocratic rule for almost three decades.
As we observe our 49th Republic anniversary, the country is once again on the crossroads as it seeks to navigate its way out of political turbulence following the successful passage of the no-confidence vote in the National Assembly. Can our leaders, more particularly President Granger rise to the challenge and in so doing avert a possible constitutional crisis? What about the ABCE countries? Will they turn a blind eye to infractions to our democracy and democratic institutions as happened in the past?
Guyana is on the cusp of a new era in our economic life when the much anticipated oil and gas economy could have a transformative impact on the lives of the Guyanese people. If there is a time for our leaders to demonstrate political maturity and statesmanship, that time is now. The ball is in the court of President Granger who has a moral and constitutional duty to engage the Opposition Leader on the way forward for Guyana within the framework of our Constitution. Guyanese, indeed the entire world, is watching on anxiously.
Hydar Ally
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Bureaucracy gone bananas!
…Peeping Tom kaieteur News- Every morning, the government wakes up, stretches its arms, and spends one billion dollars... more
Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – There is an alarming surge in gun-related violence, particularly among younger... more
Weekend Cartoon
