Life is not easy for those in power

May 05, 2019 My Column

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The year began with a furore about holding elections. Of course, there was the no confidence vote in the National Assembly. The vote sent many rushing to the constitution, where they found that elections should be held within three months of the vote, unless the National Assembly voted for an extension.
There was the move to the courts and the ruling by the Chief Justice which was challenged. The appeal court reversed that initial decision, but by then there were the protests organized by the political opposition.
People in the protest began to refer to President Granger as former president, although the very constitution said that the president will remain in office until a new one is sworn in. As it turned out, those protests were revealing.
People in the line spoke of being promised money and some complained about not being provided with lunch. Protesting had become a job. But that aside, there was the role of the Guyana Elections Commission. The constitution said that the elections commission must declare its readiness.
That sparked a race against time, because the life of the voters’ list was coming to an end. Somewhere in all this, the commission had voted for house to house registration as part of the process to sanitise the list. The claim was that there were dead people on the list, as well as the names of people who had migrated.
Of course the fact that one had migrated was not enough ground to have his/her name removed from the list. The constitution stipulates that a voter must be resident in the country for at least nine months before the elections.
But the very people who voted for house to house registration before the no confidence vote were now opposed to it. There was a claim that people would be disenfranchised. That was significant because the message was that there were people living overseas on the list, and that these people would come home to vote before they return to their place of abode.
In recent weeks, however, the latest happenings seem to be designed to thwart the work of the elections commission. Meetings are being aborted with amazing irregularity. The members identified by the political opposition keep walking out.
One can understand the strategy. If the commission takes a decision in the absence of the commissioners, then there would be talk about stacking the deck against the opposition. And these delays would impact the elections date. The commission would take longer to get ready.
There is the move for house to house registration, but there is a court challenge. I am not familiar with all the grounds. However, unless the court rules to halt it, then it will go on. Of course, there is then the move to the Caribbean Court of Justice. All this would impact the holding of elections.
The real issue is who will govern the country when first oil arrives. Oil spells money and money spells uninhibited spending. The money would make any government look good. Therein lies all the fight for elections.
I see the various chats; I hear that the government has done nothing. Then I see certain developments that cause me to wonder. For example, the people in the riverine communities were at a serious disadvantage.
There was no ready transportation for goods from the coast. At the same time, the people could not easily transport their produce. Air travel is expensive and there were no boats. In three years this situation has changed drastically. Boats that were ignored have been reconditioned to the point that they now make travel time so much less.
On Thursday, the sixth vessel came out of the docks almost as good as new. I see drastically improved city streets. Where there were potholes are now good surfaces. In fact this development passed unnoticed, although thousands of people use these streets.
I did write about the availability of jobs. Of course, talk about no jobs was just that; talk. Public spending has increased. What is at stake is job training. Many young people want jobs for which they are not qualified. One development is the public service training centre.
There has been the expansion of electricity. Communities that had no light over the years now have electricity. And many have water.
Sadly, the government does not sing its praises. Recently, there was the provision of a reliable electricity supply on the Essequibo Coast. This was an area that was plagued with darkness almost every day.
These things happened although there was talk about no money in the treasury. They also happened when some traditional foreign exchange earners became nonexistent.
Yet I keep hearing about nothing being done. There is talk about crime. The police say that crime is down, but the recent spate has done everything to refute such claims. Most of them have occurred in Berbice, a stronghold for the opposition.
If people are going to talk race, then I would suggest that the people are doing it to themselves. The police response has not always been prompt, and that too proved to be grounds for criticism. But no one is talking about the rate at which the crimes have been solved.
The recent outreaches have exposed a lot. Where they attracted opposition protests, people decided to talk to the Ministers. And many say that the outreaches have delivered. My observation is why these were not done all along.
Some say that the government has been in office for just over three years, and that the developments have been more than they say for the corresponding period of the last government.
I expect even more criticisms. People are talking about corruption without providing any proof. However, there is the saying that where there is smoke there is fire. Perhaps the administration should take a close look at the people in the system.

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