Dear Editor,
The manner of the appointment of James Patterson as Chairman of one of the most important institutions in our country, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), and subsequent revelations in relation to his statement on his CV have once more raised the issue of integrity in public life.
Justice Patterson was appointed unconstitutionally. Moreover, he and the President have misled the nation into believing he was the Chief Justice of Grenada. He never was.
Our public life needs to be cleaned up. People who hold high offices must demonstrate integrity. The consequences of having persons in high positions like Chairman of GECOM, whose statements are false, would prove disastrous.
This is an issue that has plagued Guyana for many decades.
It’s origin can be traced back to the mid and late 1960s when the People’s National Congress (PNC) made its move to convert itself into the majority party in Parliament. They did this, not by being popular and winning elections, but by bribery and corruption at the highest level.
They began to bribe Members of Parliament to cross the floor, first from the Opposition benches, and later from its coalition partner, the United Force (UF).
Recall that Moses Bhagwan, even though elected to Parliament on a Peopl’’s Progressive Party (PPP) ticket in 1964, decided to sit as an independent member and mostly supporting the PNC. When he resigned, his replacement Zharudeen came in and immediately crossed the floor to the PNC/UF coalition. He was clearly enticed. Many felt then than Bhagwan facilitated the PNC and held his seat until the PNC brought over Zharudeen.
Then we had the case of Mohamed Kassim, the then Works Minister in the PNC/UF coalition.
The then Finance Minister, Peter D’Aguair told the Assembly that Kassim could not account for million, a princely sum in those days. He was charging Kassim with corruption, then the then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, rose and told the Assembly that he had approved the spending.
Kassim crossed the coalition line and went to the PNC from the UF. D’Aguair resigned from the Government in protest. However, that gave the PNC a majority in the Parliament to pass the laws and put itself in a position to rig the 1968 general elections.
That practice continued throughout the PNC period in office (1964-1992), and the impact on the society was devastating. Not only did it impact on the economy and on the lives of our people (by 1992 some 80 per cent of our people were under the poverty line) but morality went out of public life.
After the rigging of the elections, the morals of public life went further down. Corruption became the order of the day, it gradually became a way of life, very entrenched.
With the return of democracy, the PPP/Civic Administration did a lot to try to clean-up public life.
The PPP/C Administration created an Integrity Commission. Auditor General reports began to reappear after an absence of a decade.
The PPP/C also re-introduced public tendering for public works and services. This was unheard of during the time of the PNC (now APNU) regime was in power.
Our Public Accounts Committee in the Parliament began to work, and the Auditor General’s Office was given greater resources to perform its functions.
Surely, the PPP/C Government was making an impact. However, it was not able to eradicate that scourge of corruption from our society.
The appointment of Patterson, who has already discredited himself by stating he was Chief Justice of Grenada; who has a partisan political position being in a Facebook group that promotes and defends the PNC is another sign that we are rapidly descending into a cesspool of corruption. History is repeating itself.
The sad fact is that this is being sponsored and promoted by the parties in power. They will, therefore, prove inadequate to the task of curbing it.
Guyanese of all political views, fair-minded people that still support the APNU regime must come out and join the fight to promote integrity in public life. The alternative is too serious to contemplate.
We must begin by having a credible Elections Commission. Patterson is not fit and proper for this post.
Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
Former President
