If there’s one thing our Opposition’s known for is its single-minded pursuit of power. Now, at one level, there ain’t nothing wrong about that; after all, power is to politics what money is to business!! Can’t do much without it, can you!! But the problem with OUR Opposition is the way they go about getting power. When we were living in caves, fellas would go about bopping folks over their heads with their clubs to get their way – which is what ultimately power’s all about!! But on our way out of the caves, literally and figuratively, we figured it’s more efficient all round if we create rules about how to get power – as we’d done with making money.
For us in Guyana, we were tutored into, and settled on, the “democratic” way to power – with our good citizens voting for whoever they think would use power best to benefit them. It had the legitimacy of “fairness” in that those who secured power had more people supporting them that those who’d be in the opposition. It worked quite well in our early go around – until Burnham, in 1968, “cack de wuk” by rigging the elections – and continued to do so for his PNC party to remain in power till 1992.
After then, whenever the PNC lost the now “free and fair” elections, they’d use protests to unleash some condign violence on PPP supporters. But after seeing that didn’t work in three decades – during which they unsuccessfully gave rigging another shot – the Opposition turned to another option to get their hands on power. That is, “shared governance” among the parties winning parliamentary seats – with power being proportional to their votes. That sounded fair too, didn’t it?
Well, the PPP – being around for 75 years, as they’re reminding us – said that before that arrangement can work, there gotta be “trust” between the parties. But from how PNC treated the AFC between 2015 and 2020, when they pried out the PPP to take power by following the rules, your Eyewitness can’t see how they see trust developing!! The PPP knows that once the PNC have their toe into the (governmental) door – since most of the bureaucracy supports them -they’ll have the edge in EXERCISING power!!
But there’s another reason why shared governance can’t work in Guyana – and we can see the dynamics of the problem in the work of the Guyana Elections Commission. The recently departed Carter devised this as a form of power sharing writ small on a threshold issue – elections. The Govt and Opposition have equal seats, with the Chair being an impartial professional chosen by consensus.
But we see how the Opposition is still kvetching, don’t we?? Imagine what would happen if the stakes were bigger!!
…for wokeness
Reacting to the former British Ambassador’s comment that part of our road carnage is due to our endemic uncivility to fellow road users, one respondent in the letters’ pages went on a rant that the real reason was our poverty, which the Government ain’t doing enough to remove!! Fella says poverty causes speeding – now that we can afford cars – because Guyanese are hustling and want to get to where they’re gonna do their hustle, and want to get there as fast as they can! Money gaffa mek!!
Poverty also presumably causes drivers not to dim their bright lights at incoming vehicles at nights!! Or cut in front of cars at will on their shiny new motorcycles!! And all this won’t be solved until the Government gives “the Guyanese people a fair shot at economic dignity”!!
Your Eyewitness, however, has seen these same poverty-stricken Guyanese, when they emigrate to foreign, become more law abiding than the citizens there!!
Your Eyewitness agrees with the High Commissioner – enforce laws and impose stiffer fines!!
…to sugar’s turnaround
Your Eyewitness has just been informed that “GuySuCo is outsourcing the harvesting and delivery of cane to its factories as it moves towards more mechanisation.” As to why GuySuCo can’t do the “more mechanisation” wasn’t explained.
