This is a time for national unity in the face of external threats

Feb 24, 2019 Eye on Guyana with Lincoln Lewis, Features / Columnists

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This is a time when the attack on our sovereignty, on bauxite workers, the people of Guyana and our government, by the Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), presents an opportunity for us to unite. It is a time for the Opposition and Government to work together against external threats threatening our internal peace.
It is not a pleasing experience 49 years after gaining Republican status, that signalled complete internal self-governance, that we have to be shepherded and coached by international agencies on what essentially constitutes good governance and political maturity on basic matters like respect for the Constitution and Laws of Guyana, for the value of the vote we fought for and as a nation put in place.
The latter was a fight initiated by the trade union movement under the leadership of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow and later joined by other national heroes such as Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Peter D’Aguiar, Jane Phillips-Gay and Janet Jagan.
What happened at BCGI over the past few days would have never been allowed to occur in a nation with a fierce sense of national pride. This nation of people who are descendants of the enslaved, indentured and colonised should have riled us up as a collective against the onslaught to workers’ basic rights and freedoms by foreign forces and what GHK Lall called “industrial terrorism.”
In the face of all this, the political Opposition remains silent, ignoring the pleas of the affected and people of conscience to join forces to repel the attacks. I say without fear of contradiction, the Jagans would not have had to be asked.
If we cannot stand as a collective against a foreign company doing business here, it raises questions as to our preparedness to stand against Venezuela which poses an imminent threat to our stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Today there are two major conflicts that will define and determine who we are as a people, a nation, and how we move forward – BCGI and the effects of the confidence (no-confidence) vote. Both require political maturity to resolve, but this nation remains subjected to all sorts of inaction and destructive rhetoric.
We understand political power struggle and make room for it. What we must not understand and tolerate is the willfulness within which rights, government bodies and constitutional offices are placed under attack. The Opposition must know that stability of our country rests equally on them.
Where Government fails to propose the Opposition can; where Government proposes the Opposition can counter-propose; and where Government falters the Opposition holds to account, and vice versa. Governance is the responsibility of both.
In this 21st century we are still invoking partisan politics when decisions are not in our favour, hoping for the other to fail rather than the whole succeed, ignoring the other dispossession because the individual/group is not ‘one of us’ or where a grudge is held.
Article 147 of the Constitution expressly deals with the matter bauxite workers have been fighting for the past nine-plus years. Likewise, Article 106(6) and (7) expressly deals with the confidence vote, the government after, and when an election is to be held. Instructively, 106(7) is looked at partially and the part treated as the whole, leading the nation astray, creating opportunities for provocateurs which can never be to the benefit of the collective.
That Article 106(7) speaks to having an election “within three months…or such longer period,” suggests the possibility (any) that it may not be held within the earlier period. This clause sets a time-frame but no cause for a delay, and it is folly to believe a delay can only be that of political machination, whereas it can be for many reasons.
Delay can range from a declaration of war, natural disaster, GECOM’s readiness, the case before the Court, to other possibilities. The absence of reasoning, lack of maturity, threatens the peace and stability of our political environment, our republic.
Further, the perception that the only act of government that matters is the Executive and Parliament and not the Judiciary, the third branch, is reckless and dangerous to the extent where some may perceive that it is driven by an agenda to serve a few and not the whole. There is need for a strong, credible middle ground or independent thinkers to bring stability. We also need media of similar thinking to balance the rhetoric on both sides.
In a society likes ours it is not sufficient to stay silent on RUSAL/BCGI’s conduct. Nor is it sufficient to talk about Government being in office illegally, its duties and scope decided when there exists no structure to guide and hold government to account as to how it has to “function” based on the Chief Justice’s ruling.
There seems to be no political appetite or interest to learn from countries with similar constitutional experiences. Cursory research shows different models to ensure “function,” including the scope of Cabinet in making prescribed decisions. Society begs for intelligent discussions on the modalities preferred and putting indigenous mechanisms (guideline, legislation or convention) in place to ensure day-to-day “function” of government in a post-confidence period.
In democracy, election is not the sole factor to bring about and ensure stability, good governance or inclusion which continues to elude us. Forty-nine years hence, all the focus is on election, who should get pan tap, instead of strengthening the democratic structures, educating and empowering our people to participate meaningfully, deepening our sense of nationhood and national pride (what it means to be Guyanese).
The world is moving, and our political needs, desires and culture are evolving, but our politicians remain rooted in the elementary of who must deh pan tap. This makes it necessary for we the people to unite as one and let them know we will no longer allow them to destroy this country, destroy our future, our heritage.

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