By Ryhaan Shah
I am one of the six nominees for the GECOM chairmanship who has been rejected by President David Granger as not being a “fit and proper person” for the job.
All the textbook advice on how best to deal with rejection states that you must understand that it is not your fault per se, but that the person doing the rejecting is rejecting “something particular” that doesn’t work for them.
The negative criticisms that have followed the rejection of the list of nominees are positioned within the context of the behaviour of the Granger Administration which follows a pattern of PNC bullyism and executive lawlessness that were the hallmarks of the Burnham dictatorship.
Every one of us knows what would have happened had the PPP/C Government ever rejected a list of nominees presented by the PNC leadership at any time during their 23-year governance. There would have been hell to pay for any misinterpretation or misrepresentation of the law in any way or measure.
Even if he presents reasons why he finds the nominees unfit and improper, Granger has already shown his hand publicly and appears fixated on the erroneous view that Guyana is still operating under the 1980 Burnham Constitution.
Given this, it is more than a little certain that he will find no “fit and proper person” on any list presented to him by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo.
Granger’s sycophants and supporters are colluding with him to ignore the letter of the law as he manoeuvres to get to a place where he will likely choose a candidate with the “something particular” that he wants in a chairperson.
The dangers inherent in such a move are obvious and no one can be faulted for suspecting that the “something particular” Granger wants in the next GECOM chair would be a willingness to set the stage for PNC rigged elections in 2020 and onward.
The sheer bravado of Granger’s unilateral and undemocratic moves heightens suspicions that he has been assured of his and his Government’s re-election. This just has to be done with some appearance of legitimacy and since the AFC Indian Guyanese support has decamped, that fig-leaf will not be available to help the PNC slip back into power. They therefore have to look to other means available.
It speaks volumes that they appear absolutely unconcerned that the 2017 Budget hike in fees and taxations makes them with the electorate and could contribute to their loss at the 2020 polls if the elections are free and fair.
With sugar and rice production declining, with manufacturing down, and with a 33 per cent revenue loss in the forestry sector, Guyana appears to be already suffering from the “oil curse”, even though a drop of oil has not yet been drilled from those seabed reserves off our coast.
Economic planning calculated on future oil earnings to the exclusion of every other possible revenue earner is very risky in a world that is turning to alternative energy sources. However, it appears that the promised returns are too attractive to forgo.
The Washington Post report about Granger having met with ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson only serves to intensify suspicions. Since the Guyanese public knows of no such meeting since Granger took Office, there is speculation that the meeting must have occurred before the May 2015 general elections. Either way, the secretiveness of the meeting plays to fears of deals having been struck that are not in Guyana’s best interests.
The report’s reference to the PPP/C government as “leftist” indicates the politics in play that, as in the 1960s, makes a PNC Government more politically favourable to the US.
A Huffington Post report is even more damning and posits that with Tillerson set to become the US Secretary of State, he could help “Exxon profit from Guyana’s resources under the patina of rule of law”.
The PNC enjoyed dictatorial rule through rigged elections from 1968 to 1992 because it suited US Cold War interests to keep the PPP out of Office. Could oil be Guyana’s curse this time around?
With Tillerson part of what is already an Trump Administration, Guyana’s best ally, should Granger get his way with a unilateral choice to the GECOM chair, could well be the US media which takes its government watchdog role very seriously.
The US might also find itself without willing British and European allies to influence future elections here, given that President Trump seems likely to redraw the world map of US alliances. That new world headed by an unorthodox President in the White House might be in Guyana’s favour.
