Domestic pressure is also important

Mar 21, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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International isolation must be backed by domestic pressure if the country’s ongoing and protracted political crisis is to be resolved. So far, there has been more of the former than the latter.
It was the international community that struck the first blow for electoral transparency. The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Norway, St. Vincent and Canada along with the European Union have joined with the Caribbean Community, the Commonwealth, the Organization of American States and the Carter Center in expressing concern over the transparency of the election results. A number of international non-governmental organisations have chipped in with their concerns over the process.
Local associations and individuals have been adding their voices. These have included the Private Sector Commission and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and the African Cultural Development Association, which supports a recount of all the ballots. Transparency International has urged the Guyana Elections Commission to verify the results of the elections before making a declaration.
Personal public statements have been made by former army top-man Joseph Singh, Sir Shridath Ramphal and Supriya Singh-Bodden, a national awardee who has offered to return her national medal. Former Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, an AFC leader, has said that he is not sufficiently convinced about the Region 4 declaration. Eusi Kwayana and Moses Bhagwan, considered as political elders of the Working People’s Alliance, a member of the governing Coalition, have called for power sharing but have stayed short of demanding a recount.
Sadly, the voices of our young people have been muted, except for a refreshing letter written to another section of the media by a seventeen year old. In his impassioned letter, the young man called on Guyanese to speak up now. Electoral democracy and freedom, he said, are at stake.
Silence, he noted, is not an option. The young man – a future leader in the making – called for a crescendo of voices “from the shores of the Atlantic to the mountain ranges of the Pakaraimas”.
He is likely to be disappointed. Where are the voices of the country’s young people? If they truly represent the hope for tomorrow, why are they keeping silent?
There is striking imbalance in diversity of those who have been calling for greater electoral transparency. This does not bode well for the country’s future. It suggests that either persons are afraid, could not care less, do not feel that their voices matter or have no compunction in condoning electoral irregularity.
In the meantime, suspicions are being aroused. Reports of the police demanding that Giftland security cameras not focus in the direction of the International Convention Center and the early afternoon unannounced movement of the containers containing the ballot boxes are developments that intensified fears about the integrity of the ballot boxes being compromised. It is precisely because of such fears that more Guyanese need to speak out about what is happening.
Unless greater domestic pressure is brought to bear on GECOM and the government, international isolation, so necessary to ensure a swift resolution to the country’s political crisis, will not be forthcoming immediately. In fact, there is a misguided view within elements of the ruling clique that US interests in Guyana can forestall any sanctions.
They are mistaken. The question is not if sanctions will come but when. There is no way in which the international community will allow a transition to government based on discredited declarations.
There is no way also in which the APNU+AFC can resist international pressure. When the heat is turned up, their leaders will be the first to go on the defensive. Their loyal supporters are going to be left holding the wrong end of the stick.
Domestic pressure on the regime and GECOM must be kept up. This, however, must always take peaceful forms. The PPPC has already said that it will not recognise a new APNU+AFC government. This effectively means they will not be taking up seats on the Opposition benches.
But there are other forms of lawful pressure which can be applied, the most important of which is to speak out, including through the written word. Decent Guyanese, who have been taught by their parents that honesty is the best policy, must continue to raise their voices and pen their thoughts in the same way as that 17-year-old boy did yesterday. To quote him, “Silence is not an option.”

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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