After the CCJ ruling the ‘coming together’ challenge will stare us straight in the face

Apr 16, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

For some time now, Guyanese, from all walks of life have been calling in one way or another on political parties to ‘come together to make Guyana a better place for all.’ Within recent months, the call has become even more pronounced.
Though the call has been vague and somewhat meaningless, inherently, it has two aspirational concepts. First is the ‘coming together’, second is to ‘make Guyana a better place.’
Experience has shown that the call for political parties to ‘come together’ is easier said than done. Notwithstanding, it is usually buttressed by calls for tolerance and understanding.
Whatever the calls, in a Guyanese context, they are not without justification.
Guyana is not the only country in the world where these calls are made, in fact they can be heard in many other national jurisdictions.
To help nations come to grips with their respective challenges associated with such calls, the United Nations has dedicated certain dates to be observed by member states.
These dates are of great relevance to Guyanese ‘real politik’.
They include International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (March 3); International Day of Living Together in Peace (May 16); International Day of Democracy (September 15) and International Day for Tolerance (November 16).
It is expected that governments, political parties and stakeholders in countries where these dates are of great relevance would, together, observe these days by organizing various types of events to bring citizens together.
What better opportunity do these dates not offer to nations such as ours to bring people together from all walks of life?
Amazingly, notwithstanding the relevance of these dates to Guyana, the APNU+ AFC Coalition Administration has not seen it fit to observe any of the four events here in Guyana. Instead, it prefers to remain hooked on pomp, ceremony, and symbolism of statehood. At the same time, they shamelessly pat themselves on the back, claiming credit for good governance when the social, economic and political realities tell a completely different story.
The challenge therefore is, what are the real prospects for the realization of the call for Guyanese to ‘come together’ in a society bedeviled with two fundamentally hazardous issues; race/ethnicity and political polarization. Two sides of one coin.
What has been lacking over the years is not so much the narrative for Guyanese to ‘come together for a better Guyana,’ the political landscape is littered with an untold number of monologues on the subject.
The Ministry of Social Cohesion is no more than a sinecure established to ensconce a political hack in a cushy job with catch-all responsibilities.
The ‘coming together for a better Guyana’ narrative is plentiful, it’s even VAT free. It’s the listening that is in short supply. In other words, as far as the call is concerned, we have heard it ad nauseam, moreover, we have been witnesses to a dialogue of the deaf for a very long time.
There are some in our midst who call out politicians to ‘come together to make Guyana a better place’ but practice being the criterion of truth, calls from such quarters end up as mere sloganeering or empty rhetoric.
In this regard, the question could very well be asked; ‘come together on what, and for what, when fundamental differences in interpretation of problems as well as solutions prevail?
The story of the seven blind women and the elephant is quite applicable here.
While calls for politicians ‘to come together’ continue unabated, there are yet others who claim to know, or think they have the answer to realize the ‘come together’ narrative.
Little do those who make the call realize that in a democracy, as governments go, the politician’s answers to a country’s problems have a five year shelf life.
Moreover, in a Guyanese context answers to the country’s challenges are perceived to be anchored in an ethnic waterway where strong under currents pull inexorably in one direction or another.
Few Guyanese would argue against making Guyana ‘a better place for all’ but the discourse would ultimately arrive at a dead end when questions such as; a better place for who?’ and, ‘whose turn is it to eat?’ are asked.
It is precisely at this juncture of the discourse that race and politics would intercede, much like when the muddy waters of the Demerara River would meet, but not mix with the clearer waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
But why should this natural science phenomenon ‘at sea’ negate the prospects of what, from a political science perspective, could eventuate on land with the coming together of the extant social and political on a specific issue, say the demand for free and fair elections, or constitutional reform or a government of national reconciliation?
Those who view ‘coming together’ as the central enigma, are reminded of the American writer Sinclair Lewis who wrote; “The world is not what you think it is. And by the way, neither are you.”
Put into a Guyanese folklore context; ‘There is more in the mortar than on the pestle.’
The split in the PPP in 1955 resulted in the emergence of the modern day PPP and PNC but that did not prevent the leaders of the two political parties, at one time or another to ‘come together’ to discuss, and to agree or agree to disagree on issues of mutual interest rather than on everything under the sun.
This is not to say that any ‘coming together’ in these times will be determined strictly by these two parties. Though, they will play a major role the emergence of new political and social forces and their contribution should not be under nor over estimated.
‘Coming together’ can take various forms, it can be strategic or tactical; it could be short, medium of long term. In most cases it is usually on a specific issue.
To those who might have an aversion to the call for political leaders and parties to ‘come together for a better Guyana’ it is apposite to recall the historical experiences of 1961-1962, 1974-1976 1980- 1985, 1990-1992 ,2014-2015 and 2015 to 2019.
It was during these periods, leaders of political parties, in one form or another, came together, either for the achievement of national democratic goals or in defense of Guyana’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty.
These were all short term, specific goal-oriented acts of coming together following the election of the Granger-led APNU-AFC Coalition in 2015 and its abysmal failure on all fronts as a government, a renewed call can be heard on the one hand, for opposition political parties to ‘come together’ to vote the APNU+AFC out of office, and on the other, for all the opposition parties and the ruling party to come together for a united and better Guyana for all.
Under such conditions, it would be wise to proceed with caution having regard to the Frankilian view that ‘If everyone is thinking alike then no one is thinking.’
And while the ‘coming together’ for the betterment of Guyana may seem a perverse proposition or an exculpatory fairytale, at the end of the day what will eventually face us as a nation, as it was in Shakespeare’s Hamlet is; ‘ To be or not to be, that is the question.’
Parallel lines never meet but they follow each other until infinity.
After the CCJ’s rules, Guyana will find itself moving closer to both truth and dare.
Under those circumstances, the ‘coming together’ challenge will stare us straight in the face.
Once again, Guyanese will soon find themselves stepping into unchartered terrain, the political parties can enter that terrain alone or together aware of their respective vulnerabilities and scars.
In the ‘coming together’ or ‘drowning separately’ polemic, the various sides may be tempted to embrace closure and easy answers to difficult questions.
But whichever way Guyanese leaders chose to go, their followers will remain connected with their worries, fears, hopes and aspirations so characteristic of a people who cling tenaciously to the need for their leaders to ‘come together’ for the betterment of country and people.
And only by embracing Martin Carter’s prophetic warning; ‘All are involved, all are consumed’. Will Guyanese prove once again their heightened political awareness knowing full well that Carter’s prophecy is the singular one that speaks directly to the need for us to ‘come together’? If it is our wish not only to survive as a nation but to which ‘We pledge our allegiance as onward we go, United together our strength we will show and build a new Guyana, a land of renown.’

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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