How does a free society guard against being used, disrupted by the enemies of democracy?

Feb 21, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Mr. Lincoln Lewis in a letter to the editor published on February 17, 2025 stated; ‘In 1990, President Desmond Hoyte and Opposition (Minority) Leader Dr. Cheddi Jagan returned to the National Assembly to amend the laws that established the current GECOM and reformed the electoral system. Although this was inconvenient to some, it was necessary to stabilise a society on the brink of crisis. We face similar challenges today, and the need for remedial action to ensure stability and growth is urgent.’

Apart from his totally misconceived and simplistic conclusion that Guyana today is ‘on the brink of crisis’ and that ‘we face similar challenges’ as was the case in 1990, Mr. Lincoln Lewis is unaware that every historical event, contemporary or otherwise, must be contextualized.

Lewis’ reference to political and social events in 1990 in the run up to the general and regional elections constitutionally due to be held in that year, is not only misleading, it completely is out of context.

Under the conditions prevailing at that time in Guyana, for the first time ever, there was a nation-wide demand for free and fair elections. In the past, it was just the PPP alone that was championing that cause. However, following the death of President Burnham, and the assumption to office by Desmond Hoyte changes occurred at the political, ideological and economic levels. A liberal democratic opening had emerged as a result of political pressures at home and abroad on the Hoyte administration.

The dramatic changes at international level, had a profound impact on dictatorships in Third World countries. Guyana was no exception. Cracks in the policy of a ‘managed democracy’ pursued by Hoyte began to emerge. The forces demanding free and fair elections grew vertically and horizontally, first in the Committee in Defense of Democracy (CDD) and later, in the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD).

The political and social events in 1990 was led not by one social or political organization but by the joint political opposition making up six (6) political parties in the PCD, seven (7) trade unions in FITUG. Some members of the TUC led by JH Pollydore, the Bishops of the Anglican and Catholic Churches respectively, private sector bodies, The Guyana Bar Association, sections of the media, a host of other non-state actors and above-all, the Carter Centre, led by now deceased President Jimmy Carter, all played a major role in bringing about the changes.

Mr. Lewis was around at the time when the ‘Commonwealth Advisory Group on Guyana’s Economic and Social Situation,’ popularly referred to as ‘The McIntyre Report’, had issued its report in 1989, in which it referred to the sad state of affairs obtaining in our country between the 1980’s and the early 1990’s. In its Report, the Advisory Group highlighted that, ‘Guyana’s high debt service ratio was not conducive to sustained economic growth and that Guyana was ranked below Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere’. Mr. Lewis may wish to do the comparative analysis of then to now, to jolt his memory.

I conclude by asking; how does a free society guard against being used, disrupted and made unstable, by the rights and privileges it grants the enemies of democracy? How does it avoid the pre-independence fate it suffered at the hands of those who rolled out their infamous X-13 plan to destabilize a democratically elected government? For countries like ours who experienced a dictatorship in the past, finding the right pathway to the future was no walk in the park.

But Guyanese have found a way, torturous as it may have been. The country remains unmistakably democratic because, while it strengthens the institutions of governance, it vigilantly monitors the activities who those who pose a threat to democracy while maintaining a memory of what the nation once was. It’s an accomplishment all Guyanese should feel especially proud given the price we paid to keep our democracy intact.