No solution in sight

Jul 13, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The Guyana Bar Association has issued a strong condemnation of statements purported to have been made by a member of the government. The private sector commission has expressed concern over the government’s refusal, thus far, to honour sums due to a private company, despite court rulings in favour of the company.
The Guyana Bar Association and the Private Sector Commission are two civil society organisations. Civil society is weak in Guyana. Over the years, a strong civil society has not emerged, because the state has become extremely powerful and omnipresent while the rest of society has become polarised.
As such, civil society has remained malformed. Many civil society organisations, including churches and trade unions, have become either silent or inactive. Most of them have become victims of the entrenched political divisions within the society.
Some civil society organisations which were vibrant in the past have become comatose. A case in point is the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). The GHRA used to be very consistent, in the past, in issuing statements on political issues. Yet, it has failed to even offer a whimper over the past four years, despite the many controversies which have erupted.
The GHRA has become symptomatic of the sedentary fate of civil society. The churches, the social organisations and the trade unions have all become apathetic. They have stayed clear of involvement in the political and economic crisis facing the country
Right now, Guyana is facing the possibility of instability. The country is politically polarised. On the one side there is the PPPC and its supporters. And on the other side is the PNCR and its supporters. There is no force in between, because civil society is weak and there is no credible political third force.
Supporters on both sides of the political divide are refusing to see reason. A simple task of identifying six names for Chairperson of GECOM cannot be settled by the parties’ plenipotentiaries and has to now be referred back to the President and the Leader of the Opposition
The political crisis is deepening. The government’s intransigence is inflaming political tensions. The government is hell-bent on serving out its full term, despite the fact that for all intents and purposes it has fallen.
The economy is not as rosy as it appears. The importation of highly costly equipment for the oil and gas sector – primarily an off-shore operation – is mainly responsible for the growth of the construction sector, without which the economy would have flat-lined. The non-oil sectors are unsteady.
The problems with not honouring court judgments and the ‘take-over’ of the Berbice River Bridge has sent the wrong signals to investors who will now be extremely cagey. All Guyana is hoping for oil production to begin early next year, but the political climate is risky. The situation is not likely to get any better soon. The divisions reach right down to the level of the citizenry, and this is further isolating a civil society that is weakened and paralysed with fear, especially over the prospects of political violence.
The importance of the forthcoming elections is being exaggerated. It is NOT going to be the mother of all elections. The 2025 elections is going to be the Mother of all elections. Oil production will only be around 120,000 barrels over the next few years and with the 2% royalty and the absence of ring-fencing, all Guyanese are likely to obtain is two loaves of bread per day.
Guyana is therefore confronted with an acute political and economic crisis. There is no solution in sight, and the absence of a strong civil society segment means that there is no non-political force which can impress on the parties the urgency to compromise.
The weakness and meekness of civil society leaves citizens exposed to the wrath of political polarisation. And this is yet part of the continuing tragedy of Guyana.
No one will take seriously anything that the private sector, the churches, the union or the social organisations say individually. But if they all join together, they can force the political parties to take note. Unfortunately, this coming together of civil society will not happen because, like the people of Guyana, civil society organisations are also victims of the political divisions within society.

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