By Ryhaan Shah
In Guyana, we often speak of the idea of political affiliations and partisanship as a negative phenomenon. Being immured, as we are, in a political/racial divide every kind of cleavage is highlighted and blamed for the country’s lack of progress.
Principles and principled behaviour are what matter in a democracy and the functioning of a democratic State does require two or more political groups to articulate their particular plans and vision in order to give the electorate a choice. That choice, however, should always be grounded in commonly held principles such as upholding the Constitution and the rule of law, and agreeing on ethical conduct that respects fairness and justice as hallmarks of good governance.
However, manifestos that outline political parties’ plans have not actually mattered because it is identity politics that most often determines a voter’s choice. The divide goes deep and has become so much a part of the Guyanese experience and character that appealing to better natures has been a useless exercise.
Third parties that promote unity or a promise to hold a balance of power between the two major groups have failed and for various reasons, the most recent being the case of the Alliance For Change (AFC) with the coalition agreement, the Cummingsburg Accord, being shunted aside by the main coalition partner, the People’s National Congress (PNC), as soon as the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/AFC Government came to power.
The AFC’s move to revise rather than to hold and insist on the agreed terms of the Accord demonstrates a lack of the principled behaviour that is necessary for good governance.
Every promise made on the campaign trail has been unapologetically broken by the Granger Government. There are no new investments and no new jobs. Instead, there are wholesale assaults on the sugar and rice industries – strongholds of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) support base – and corruption that is brazen and open as with the gross mishandling of the oil deal with ExxonMobil and the unconstitutional appointment of a Guyana Elections Commission chair.
The only principle at work within the Granger Government is that of self-interest and the citizenry are once again held ransom to tit-for-tat politics that places vengeance and greed above the good governance that is critical if there is to be any meaningful dialogue with the Opposition and any proper functioning of a democracy.
While it is understandable, and even expected, that everyone would support their team, that support should be focused on backing sound policies and should never be a descent into sycophancy and biases based on blind loyalty. The letter pages of the newspapers provide a platform for citizens to critique and comment on political and social situations and events but, often, the letter writers’ names are all it takes to know what position they will support. There is hardly ever any diversion from the known narratives which merely cement the gridlock of our divisive politics and offer no useful alternatives.
This past week, for instance, Stabroek News published a commentary from Working People’s Alliance (WPA) members Andaiye, Eusi Kwayana and Moses Bhagwan entitled “RISE UP – Time to Speak” (January 8, 2018) in which the members rightly criticised the Granger Government’s policy on the sugar industry which has led to estate closures and the retrenchment of 4000 workers.
In an introductory paragraph, they listed a number of the issues and problems facing Guyana. Glaringly absent from the list which included “extra-judicial killings” of “mainly Afro-Guyanese youths” by the past PPP Government were the African Guyanese violence and terror on Indian Guyanese during that same period, even though these were among the very WPA members who had stated publicly “not in my name” during the Buxton terror.
The summary dismissal and denial of the violations against Indian Guyanese brings the legitimacy of these politicians’ current concerns into question and the high moral ground they were trying to claim crumbles beneath the weight of their omission.
The brutality and injustice of the Granger Government’s sacking of mostly Indian Guyanese sugar workers are not so far removed from the brutality of the physical violations on Indian Guyanese or the inherent injustice in omitting and denying the ethnic violence which has been a fact of Guyana’s politics since the 1960s.
But the omission and denial are part and parcel of the African Guyanese narrative and places Indian Guyanese in the position of continually having to correct, counter, and insist on the truth.
Good governance cannot ever emerge from unprincipled partisan politics or governments and as much as any extra-judicial killing should be condemned by everyone so too should the ethnic violence against Indian Guyanese.
Such principled conduct would be a major catalyst in changing the downward trajectory of our country.
