Democracy and autocracy: the reality 

Sep 10, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – I keep it simple in this chat about democracy versus autocracy in Guyana.  I agree and disagree with the erudite Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran.  I mostly disagree with those who disagree with him.

First, some poor man’s definitions would help.  Democracy is government by those with the greater numbers, a system where high ideals once resonated.  Autocracy is where those in charge (usually one) deliberately subvert the ideals of democracy for scurrilous personal objectives.  Democracy, at its best, is about freedoms, those that the powerful and perverse find overwhelming and obnoxious.  Autocracy is where the leadership becomes so twisted, feels so threatened that there are remorseless moves to stamp out the objectionable, those considered parasites.

Democracy starts and stops in Guyana with elections.  And even that process has had its tangles, thanks to the PNC.  In its defense, the PNC said look at the PPP.  That’s the story; it’s endless.  After elections, and before a swarm of flies in Guyana can visit an exposed carcass, democracy’s nobilities find themselves ostracized, rendered into virtual lepers.  In a democracy, conscientious objectors are a protected species. A rare breed of the fearless that gets things moving, not necessarily done.  In Guyana under the PPP, democracy died at State House the day before the last swearing-in ceremony.  In the Guyana of PPP democracy, conscientious objectors are a combination of barbarian, heathen, terrorist, and untimely reminders that the PPP family has many secrets, its democracy riddled with many holes.  Which committed bully, bluffer, or braggart would take kindly to such revelations?  Which prudent leader with self-control to match would think twice prior to letting his dogs of war out?  It is raw power expressed.  State House loves it (mess at own risk); Freedom House pretends not to be in bed with that (wee doan mix wid dem kine ah peeple), but they are all on the PPP Government’s payroll.

Some are inside State media.  In a democracy, the people who own State media have some voice in their assets.  In the Guyana version of autocracy disguised as democracy, the State apparatus is deployed to whip the stubborn and stupid into shape. Silence is the best medicine.  The big fellas swear that they welcome constructive criticism.  I detect a lack of proper schooling: truth.  It is grafting arrogance with vinegar and toxins, then fusing the result with trickiness.  Somebody should inform the dealers in the PPP of the true meaning of honest criticism, the range that constructive criticism covers, and the places it could soar, with few limits.  In the PPP’s democracy, intimidation is education. Smearing makes intentions clear.  To libel is the drivel on which it feeds and grows fat.  Is that democracy?  It is not even autocracy; it is criminality at its crudest, slipperiest.

In a democracy, citizens have confidence in the independence of the police.  In an autocracy, the people shiver when they hear police. Who is responsible?  Is that state of mind justified?  Whose interests are served?  Whose security is breached?  In a democracy, the independent media is hailed as a bulwark, a tolerated inconvenience. Like a hovering, intrusive, overbearing in-law.  But in an autocracy, the very presence of the media (whether independent or not) is seen as an escaped prisoner with a bad record and worse attitude. Corner quickly and lock in the narrowest cage.  When a government has no dreadful secrets to hide, there is no media dread.  The media is a friend, partner, a fellow striver towards common national objectives. When there are vulgar government secrets lying nakedly about, as if some private nudist colony, then the independent media is the worst national nightmare. Hence, the upraised mailed fist of government.  Hence, the face to the independent media’s face in the most unwanted nose-to-nose romance.  Democracy is about benign government warmth.  Autocracy is about malevolent leadership wrath.  Even the judiciary is under siege.  There are those who try to sway it and shift it.  When that fails, they spit upon it. Some may postulate it’s the power dynamic in action.  I call it political Darwinism that resorts to cannibalism.  The skeptical can confirm by spending some quality time observing the presidency, the chief secretary.  The Prime Minister’s office is used for clandestine warfare against those identified as enemies of the party.  The Attorney General’s office is there to run interference with the specious and vacuous.  It is well represented.

In this democracy-autocracy challenge, I file this writ.  Name one sensitive public agency not under the heel of the political commissars.  They make their own civil service standards.  Do as the party leaders wish and say, and to hell with the rules.  If that is democracy, then I am the Duke of Georgetown.  Put a hooligan in a bejeweled uniform complete with a scarlet sash, and he or she is still an unreformed thug. Last, for the best evidence of autocracy in motion, study Guyanese.  Save for a daring few, they have no insights, no inspirations, no contrarian ideas, no dissenting impulses.  Fear is their first cousin, their first flight towards the first refuge found.  Like ah said, it’s neither scientific nor academic. Only what is realistic in the autocratic state that is PPP Guyana. When the checks and balances are demolished, then things get out of whack, out of control, and out of the ordinary. By any measure, that is autocracy.  Welcome to Guyana.  It’s in a bad place.

(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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• Democracy, Dr. Bertrand Ramcharran, Freedom House, medicine, The Prime Minister’s

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