The time has come for a conversation on constitutional reform

May 20, 2020 Letters

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Dear Editor,

From all indications, de facto president Granger seems unconvinced that there is any reason to believe he is wrong in doing or condoning what followed in the aftermath of the no confidence motion and the March 2nd elections.

The president’s constant refrain to the tune that; “GECOM is an independent constitutional agency over which I and the executive have no control.” As well as his fallacious assurance that “… as President, I cannot, did not and will not interfere in the work of GECOM” reeks of deception and the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.

Mr. Granger’s position rings hollow because of the spanner he recently threw in GECOM’s works thereby preventing the Commission from benefiting from the presence of the Carter Center to observe the recount of the votes.

Caught up in a whirlwind of his surreal world, Mr. Granger’s reasoning seems to be that it is his political opponents, not he, who have it all wrong starting with the NCM and all that flowed therefrom, culminating in Mingo’s twice questionable declaration of ‘results’ for votes cast at the March 2 elections.

Sources say that persons close to the presidency have asked rather puzzlingly; ‘what is the disagreement over the results all about’ when the president has said “I have always stood by the Constitution, upheld the rule of law, never interfered in the work of GECOM and have always defended Guyana’s national sovereignty?”

‘What wrong has he done?’ Others have asked rather cynically. What are these moral values he lacks that people are talking about? Some query. And, as if in prayer, they seek absolution. The rule of law in Guyana today, regrettable, relies on the diktat of a bureaucratic elite who, on the one hand, claim to uphold the constitution and the rule of law, while on the other, it is they themselves who violate the constitution as a means to an end.

The impending collapse of our fledgling democratic process began with persistent and consistent assaults on the constitution beginning with political interference in constitutional bodies and the drive to control those bodies by placing politically connected persons to head them.

What we are faced with here in Guyana, are expressions of a mindset of an elite, fettered by attributes and habits formed by previous experiences. Small wonder why it is not unusual to hear and read views that the genesis of the Granger administration is to be found in the Burnham era.

In the circumstances, we are made to believe that, based on their public utterances, the Coalition has had enough time to reflect on the electoral process. Thus, by way of noises emanating from their Tower of Babel, coalition spokespersons have not been bashful in making it known that they may brand the entire electoral process discredited and the recount illegal notwithstanding Granger’s public admonition that he is prepared to accept “any declaration” by GECOM’s chairwoman.

In all their mental meanderings, the coalitionists have failed to realize that their immoral actions have made it easier for the populace to recognize the true nature of the beast they have been saddled with for the past five years. But for those in the leadership of the Coalition, it is the humongous salaries, the perks, the bribes, the land grabbing, the corrupt practices, the fear of losing power, of being saluted to, the cutting of ribbons, the ceremonial events, and traveling first class to faraway exotic places that play tantalizingly on their minds as well as those in the kitchen cabinet, the hangers-on and petit officials.

Some call it drama, but in effect, it is psychological warfare that is being played out between an elitist rigging cabal and the opposition parties whose sole interest is to have transparent, credible and internationally acceptable declaration of the results of the elections.

That aside, a major humbug to a speedy resolution of the election debacle is the herd instinct manifested by the political has-beens and wannabes who are fighting tooth and mail to ward off their impending political demise. We Guyanese have arrived finally at a stage where there is an emerging consensus that our electoral system is broken and that the solution lay in a revamped system within the meaning of constitutional reform.

The new government has in effect received a resounding mandate to make fundamental institutional reforms based on the public outcry for these changes to be effected.

It would not have gone unnoticed, that since the assumption to office by the Coalition Administration, an unofficial national conversation began in this country on a matter pertaining to constitutional reform, and an inclusive form of governance. This conversation has intensified following passage of the NCM and current elections debacle.

In fact, this virtual national conversation has laid the basis for a slew of fundamental changes in our political culture and institutional arrangements.

Coupled with occurrences during the current electoral period, the voices of revolutionary change have been loud and clear. The newly elected government would do well to take on board those voices for real change irrespective of how modest their contribution was to the triumph of democracy.

Regrettably, in the course of the virtual national conversation, race and ethnicity, peddled by a few, are put on the front burner making their resolution a sine qua non for any advancement in our economic, social and political life. The trend has accelerated in recent times. It is a poisonous trend that must be rejected.

This unhelpful narrative, compounded by a combination of prolonged agony and yearning for freedom, demands first and foremost; a speedy end to elections fatigue and secondly, a phasing out of the COVID 19 lock down.

Absence of these fundamental ingredients to life and liberty, I again emphasize, only serve to breed anger and rebellion and, the emergence of extremist groups who, realizing that it’s a waste of time to effect a change of government through the ballot box, take matters into their own hands and chose other routes to do so.

Yours truly,
Clement J. Rohee

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