The people of Guyana should have a greater say in who will represent us in Parliament

Aug 20, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

The recent selections of persons to occupy seats in the National Assembly of Guyana, following the declaration of results of the March 2 Elections, have given rise to many posts, discussions, etc on the composition of the new National Assembly, i.e. who should occupy those seats and why. There have been arguments made for youth and for women, for ensuring diversity, for honouring party loyalty and even for recognising current popularity. Each of these may have their own merit, some more so than others. But before we take a stance on any of these, shouldn’t we first consider the purpose of the jobs that are being discussed?
I say jobs because, essentially, a seat in the National Assembly makes one a (working) member of the Legislature, which is one Arm or Branch of Government, the others being the Executive and the Judiciary. The primary purpose of the legislative arm is ‘to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Guyana’ (Article 65 of our Constitution). A selected or appointed member of the National Assembly or Member of Parliament (MP) is therefore employed under the Constitution of Guyana to make laws for the peace, order and good government of Guyana. This is of immense importance as it effectively gives them the power to determine how our society should function and is thus something that ought not to be taken lightly.
How does one get a seat in the National Assembly of Guyana? As it stands, our Constitution provides for an election of MPs pursuant primarily to Articles 60 and 160. However, when we cast our ballots, we do so only for a particular party and not for a specific Member of Parliament. Though we are essentially casting a vote in favour of a List of Candidates when we vote for a party, we do not get to question that List or pick and choose which members we prefer.
Only after the Election is over, and successful parties are allocated numbers of seats in the National Assembly, then will we know who will occupy those seats and, essentially, represent us in Parliament. This is generally done by the Representative of the List (Section 98, Representation of the People Act), who is required to extract names from the List to fill the number of seats allocated to that List. No voter gets a say in which names are extracted. And, as has been seen in the recent public outbursts, even prominent members of the party itself may strongly disagree with the names extracted. However, that is the process by which persons become members of the National Assembly.
With that in mind, I would just like to note two things for consideration at this point:
1. Being a member of the National Assembly is no joke. It should not be a popularity contest, or even a reward for loyalty to a party over the years. A person who occupies a seat in the National Assembly should do so to serve the people of Guyana and to represent the views of the people who voted to make that occupation possible. Those who are best able to represent those people are the persons who should be chosen to occupy those seats. Someone who is young should be chosen not because they are young, but because they represent the voice of the youth who elected them, and this should apply to all other demographics we may want to see represented.
2. The people of Guyana should have a greater say in who will represent us in the National Assembly. This may only happen following significant constitutional changes that permit us to be able to choose specific individuals whom we can then hold personally accountable. Until then, our votes will result in Members of Parliament who are more interested in, or even compelled to serve, the interests of those who are responsible for extracting their names than the interests of the people whose votes made their election possible.
If we want to have a greater say in who gets to represent us, we need to keep pressing whoever occupies those seats to enable those changes to be made. This is not something that is just a peripheral concern. If the people who are elected do not represent us and see themselves as accountable to us, we may continue to find that all of our other concerns will not be addressed. Change is possible, but we have to begin to understand where the primary changes need to occur, and we need to change our mindset in relation to who we want to elect and why.
Yours truly,
Kurt Da Silva

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