GECOM masquerade has exposed our ethnic fault line

Dear Editor,
The events of the last year or so — constitutional breaches and defiance, along with the GECOM dodges and attempts to swear in the wrong president — have rendered Guyana an unstable environment. The public is not free from major threats to their safety, and national and international actors are unable to engage in building or rebuilding political, economic and other key governance structures and institutions.
Clearly, there has been a breakdown of the rule of law. People are no longer protected from anarchy, as well as from arbitrary exercise of power by public officials; and they are prevented from carrying out their daily affairs with confidence. Amidst all of this, the ethnic fault line has become more pronounced. Some people are looking back at the 1963-64 events, while others reflect on those of 1999-2001. The common thread running through their minds is whether we are about to relive those sad episodes.
Most of us would agree that reducing ethnic discrimination, tension and conflict requires integrating the major groups into an institutional and social fabric system; and that democracy is built through active participation of citizens in decisions that affect their lives and through opposition to entrenched patterns of unjustified inequality.
Given the current tyranny of the minority, which threatens to widen the ethnic gap and deepen ethnic resentments, how do we as a nation move forward as one people, one nation, with one destiny?
I am tempted to offer a radical solution espoused by some politicians decades ago, but that would run counter to what I believe in and have worked for over the years.
I now join the international community, the Guyanese diaspora, and likeminded progressive Guyanese in calling on Mr Granger, his cabal and his followers to accept the results of the March 2, 2020 General Elections, so that the rightful president could be sworn in. It is time to correct this dysfunctional democracy and forge ahead with national development in peace, progress and prosperity.

Sincerely,
Ronald Singh
Barrister & Solicitor