The spectre of a social and political crisis keeps hovering menacingly over the nation

Aug 02, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

A wise man once said, “Don’t be surprised by the unexpected.’’ When applied in the Guyanese context here’s what you find; the populace is slowly but surely losing confidence in the system of governance in their own country.
The loss of confidence is due to widespread dissatisfaction with the lack of, or non-delivery of goods and services to large sections of the Guyanese people.
Some perceive the loss to be because of Constitutional deficiencies about which, there has been more talk than action.
In the meanwhile, the spectre of a social and political crisis keeps hovering menacingly over the nation.
Everyday politics in Guyana is characterised on the one hand, by those who claim that the government is doing good, and on the other, by those who claim that the government is doing bad. Somewhere in the middle is that grey area that symbolises the call for ‘inclusivity,’ ‘coming together,’ ‘national unity’ and a national unity government in whatever shape, form or fashion.
Regrettably, because the Guyanese society is polarised along ethnic lines such a government has been illusive for decades, yet the phenomenon remains embedded like a permanent fixture in the national psyche of many Guyanese.
The vicissitudes of political life in Guyana notwithstanding, as a people, we have managed to pull together and to maintain that delicate balance between stability and instability avoiding as it were, a reoccurrence of the sordid events that characterised the 1962 to 1964 period.
Yet, as if it is destined to be, we continue inexorably, to lurch from crisis to crisis sometimes almost on the precipice of a national disaster or at other times, just managing to claw back to a temporary state of abnormalcy as is currently the case, following the agonising period from which we have just emerged regarding the selection of a Chair for GECOM.
However, the contours of an impending crisis are looming once again.
Interpretations of the CCJ’s consequential rulings by political opponents of the government versus interpretations of relevant sections of the Guyana Constitution by supporters of government on the question of house-to-house registration, the dissolution of parliament and the calling of elections, like Neptune’s weapon, stands tantalisingly ready to be used to plunge the Guyanese nation into a crisis once again
The perils of another impending crisis is compounded by the incessant but destructive insertion of race in the national conversation by the usual suspects who, while hankering out on the periphery of the body politic, make no qualms about why the Coalition Administration’s positions should be supported because of kith and kin politics.
Brinkmanship politics and a perceived race to the bottom by the major political actors compounded by their inability to cough up solutions to crisis situations in a timely manner adds to the increasing fatigue of the people.
More particularly, the intervention of ethnic polarisation, peculiar to Guyanese politics obstruct all prospects for a political solution. Consequently, the only way out becomes quite obvious.
Under these conditions, the next step is to look outwards for help for possible, but highly improbable solutions to be found at home.
Having learnt from past experiences where foreign assistance was of great support to lift the country out of impending political disaster, the Guyanese people know exactly what they have to do.
With tons of experience under their belt, the Guyanese electorate knows that their electoral process has been dogged by controversy.
Not wishing for their worst fears of a rigged elections to be realised, it should come as no surprise that Guyanese are once again, turning their attention to, and calling out the international community.
Such a call is timely as it justifiable in specific circumstances where non-interference in the internal affairs of a nation is used as an excuse to get away with Constitutional violations as well consequential orders of the CCJ.
The expressions of annoyance, if not frustration with CARICOM’s perceived nonchalant attitude to the caretaker administration’s flouting its obligations under the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society was no unexpected surprise.
It is to be recalled that on February 17, 1997, the Governments of the Caribbean Community subscribed to the Resolution adopting the Charter of Civil Society.
Among its provisions is Article XVII on Good Governance which enjoins Member States to ‘adopt and implement all appropriate measures to ensure good governance which is just, open and accountable.’
In present-day, Guyanese context ‘appropriate measures’ should be read to mean holding of free and fair elections, a concern that is uppermost in the minds of the Guyanese electorate
In January 1998, a mere month after the December 1997 elections, CARICOM dispatched a Goodwill Mission to Guyana ‘after anxiously wondering whether the political impasse could be managed in such a manner that would not leave a graveyard for the announced victor in the contest and for the next generation of Guyanese.’
That was 21 years ago.
The ‘next generation’ has emerged since that time. Nevertheless, the question as to whether the extant ‘political impasse be managed in such a manner that would not leave a graveyard for the announced victor’ remains as valid as it was 21 years ago in light of an elections that is long overdue.
The international community, especially CARICOM shouldn’t wait to be surprised by the unexpected, the time for action is now.

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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