Dear Sir,
Since the March 2020 elections, I have been agonising on the future of this country and where we go from here. What can be done to stop this madness come every elections cycle? Let’s call a spade a spade, Afro-Guyanese do not want to be ruled by a perceived Indian government, and likewise, Indo-Guyanese do not want to be ruled by a perceived Afro- government.
So, what can be done to make every Guyanese feel they are part of the Government and their interests are taken care of by their representatives in the Government? First, complete the recount as quickly as possible. Have the President and Government sworn in, and immediately embark on constitutional reform.
Of course, all of this must be agreed to by Mr. Granger and Mr. Jagdeo via a signed document, both parties will jointly embark on this exercise, and at the end of the process, the draft Constitution must be put to the people in a referendum for approval.
Having said that, I would like to see these changes in our new Constitution:
1. Scrap GECOM completely and replace it with an accounting firm. Firms must bid, and Parliament do the selection. Never again must politicians be involved in the running of elections in this country. This is the root of all evil in this country. And like in the USA, a fixed date every five years must be enshrined in the Constitution for elections.
2. We must go back to the first-past-the-post system of elections in this country. We must never again vote for a list wherein our parliamentary representatives are answerable to the maximum leader of his or her party. They must be answerable to us, the people, and if they do not perform, we can fire them at the next election. We can hire you and fire you anytime. No more maximum leader in this country.
3. Scrap the Regional System, so that no Government would ever pump more resources into regions that they have won, and neglect other regions. The wealth of this country must be distributed equally to all the people of this land, and not to a selected few.
4. And finally, our system of Government: Scrap the Presidency, and the head of state must be the Prime Minister. As I said earlier, no more maximum leader, king or god. Seeing that we, the people, would be electing our parliamentary representatives, let the Prime Minister be elected at the first sitting of Parliament, and let him then appoint his government from all the Members of Parliament, and his government must not exceed twelve ministers, which are his cabinet, with him being the head and thirteenth member with the casting vote at cabinet meetings.
With a population of just 750,000 people, Guyana has the most bloated government in the whole world. “As them boys seh, everyone wants to be a politician in this country.
Editor, these are some of my recommendations that I would like to see in a new Constitution, and hopefully it can lead to a more prosperous and peaceful Guyana, where all of our people can live in peace and harmony, and not kill each other at elections time.
I am also hoping to hear the thoughts and recommendations from the likes of Chris.
Ram, Henry Jeffery, Freddie Kissoon, Nigel Hinds, Lenox Shuman, Ralph Ramkarran, Timothy Jonas, David Hinds, Ian McDonald and others.
Let us hear the voices of all the people of this beautiful land of ours.
Yours faithfully,
Imtiaz Baccus
