Guyana needs a fresh start

Mar 22, 2020 News

General and Regional Elections, held every five years, are divisive and disruptive. They end up in legal challenges, protests and the muddying of Guyana’s international image. They polarize our people, with the losing side feeling excluded and alienated.
We cannot continue like this. Guyana will go nowhere unless it fixes this problem immediately.
Both of the two main political parties, the PNCR and the PPPC, represent primarily ethnic constituencies. Putting an Indian Prime Ministerial candidate in one and an African Prime Ministerial candidate in the other does not address the root of the problem.
We have pussyfooted for far too long. We must not wait until the next election, or the next crisis, to commence the search for a governance model which would allow all ethnic groups to feel comfortable and to attenuate their fears of racial domination and discrimination.
In this regard, we echo the recent sentiments expressed by the former Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, who has called for a new model of governance which works for the country and which does not incite the level of divisiveness which we are presently witnessing in our country.
He said, “This is not something which can be left to any incumbent [or incoming] to address. It will never happen. There must be a binding commitment from all parties as part of a packaged resolution of the current situation.”
Kaieteur News supports this proposal. Creating a model of governance that is truly inclusive cannot be left to the goodwill of either APNU+AFC or the PPPC. It will not happen once either is sworn in to office. A new model of governance must be the outcome of political negotiations which run concurrent with resolving the present impasse over the election results.
Guyana needs a fresh start. The old model of distrust and division will take the nation down the road to disaster. Let us agree now on a model which will ensure ethnic, economic and personal security and one in which everyone wins. Such a model will ensure that no race feels that it has lost after an election. It is the only recipe for progress and peace in Guyana.

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