Is Guyana really a democracy?

May 24, 2021 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
President Abraham Lincoln has described a democracy as “a government of the people, by the people, and FOR the people”. Based on this description or definition, can one honestly say that Guyana is a democracy? I don’t think so! Since Guyana attained its Independence in 1966, none of our governments have been FOR the people. None of them! Therefore, one can only conclude that our country is, in fact, a pseudo democracy – yes, a sham!
The pervasiveness of political and racial discrimination which is inherent in the system of governance has certainly disqualified us from calling ourselves a democracy. Our race-based politics in a deeply divided society has always produced a government for SOME of the people, which in the context of Guyana translate to half of the population.
At least, this is the general perception of the people. If it were not so, why then is there always such mistrust, anxiety, resentment and cries of discrimination by a large section of the population against whichever party is in government?
Albert Einstein has defined insanity as: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. After over 55 years of the PNC and PPP in government, does anyone still believe that any of these two parties can bring true democracy to the country, given that their very nature is antithetical to democracy? We must be insane!
As a first step to be elevated to that esteemed political status (democracy), Guyana needs to have truly multiracial parties to run its affairs – not parties with racial window dressing, as we see in both the PPP and PNC. The AFC, I believe, was truly a multiracial party, but maybe they were undemocratic and unfortunately they have lost their way. In fact, Freddie has already written their epitaph. Guyana has a very strange electorate. They continue to cling to the two age-old undemocratic parties with all their flaws. So it seems that we are stuck.
This being the case, in order to add credibility to our system of governance, we should revert to the old electoral system in which the country was divided into geographic constituencies; where the representatives of the constituencies were elected by the people and will therefore be accountable to the people of the constituencies. It follows therefore, that the elected representatives will be the ones to sit in Parliament to represent the rights of their constituencies.
This kind of arrangement will provide some guarantees that the people’s concerns will be attended to by the government. Thus promoting a system of democracy.
But as noble as the above arrangements may be, our leaders are still required to dig their heads out of the sand and face reality that neither Africans nor Indians have any desire to be under the political domination of the other, certainly not for any prolonged period of time. Hence, the system of governance must be addressed sooner rather than later in a way that promotes peace and racial unity. Currently, the media is inundated with racial bickering over the remarks made by an MP. This shows how racially sensitive we are. In Guyana, one’s race is sacrosanct, so one has to be careful whenever making any remark which may be construed to be negative or offensive.
People are very passionate about their race. So it is not unusual to see fierce interracial rivalry especially between the two major racial groups – Indians and Africans. This has always been the case and will remain so. So ways have to be found to alleviate the intense rivalry. Governance is core and is also a sore issue. There is therefore the need for a paradigm shift in the system of governance to make it more democratic. We probably need a system which will allow participation in the Executive of all political parties which have been allocated seats at the general election. To stubbornly continue with a system which invokes racial strife and disunity, is inimical to peace and development.
But you know something? The current leaders of both the PPP and PNC have no genuine interest in sharing of the pie. They don’t see how more than one party can run a government. In fact, hypocritically, the PNC talks about sharing the Executive when that party is in the Opposition. But when in government there is complete silence. The PPP, on the other hand, emphatically opposes such notion, because it foolishly believes that it has the numbers to win any free and fair election.
Once these two parties have their way, Guyana will continue along its merry way of racial animosity and strife, which will only embolden the likes of ExxonMobil to recolonize us in the 21st century.
At the very core, Guyana is a multiracial society and needs to have its affairs managed by mature, truly multiracial governments. The PPP and PNC have proven that they do not fit the criteria. They have taken the test time and again and have failed each time. The nation yearns for fresh untainted blood to take up the mantle of leadership to democratically govern the country in the 21st century, so that we don’t have to continue to ask ourselves the embarrassing question: “What democracy?” We are better than that!
Winston Richards

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