The year 2007 provided little cheer for Guyanese, although it did have two major high points in the form of World Cup Cricket and the decision of the International Convention on the Law of the Sea Tribunal. But for the ordinary person in the street there was VAT to contend with, along with rising food prices on the world market and the stratospheric increase in the cost of fuel – the last two admittedly, hardly to be laid at the door of the Guyana government. The administration cannot avoid, however, taking full responsibility for the situation at the electricity company. After more than fifteen years in office there can be no question that it lacks the capacity to fix a problem about which it never failed to harangue the PNC when the latter was in government. So much for change.
Security concerns still were not systematically addressed, with every petty criminal brandishing a firearm when committing a minor theft. And yet the government appeared strangely disinclined to develop the strategies and allocate the resources which might have had some impact on the importation of illegal weapons across the Corentyne and Takutu, among other entry points. And as for that related activity – the drug trade – it penetrated every level of society, flourishing with as much vigour as ever, with the government response as limited as ever.
Then there were the endless attacks on fisherman by pirates, apparently with impunity. When the first arrests came, it was because of the initiative of the victims themselves, rather than any direct action on the part of the authorities. The judicial system experienced no reinvigoration, still creaking along in low gear; the teachers and nurses continued to migrate in droves; and the government once again dispensed with the niceties of collective bargaining with the unions, imposing wage increases on public servants and others. But then again, for a long time the rulers have been dispensing with more fundamental niceties, such as the constitutional ones, many of which provide the system with its checks and balances. Those that govern in this land have never relinquished their obsession to control every official and institution, and have shown themselves incapable of understanding that strong, autonomous bodies are necessary for the health of any true democracy.
As such, therefore, it was hardly surprising that they displayed no inclination to release their iron grip on the radio spectrum in 2007, or allow a rational and fair distribution of state advertisements among the country’s newspapers, despite the intervention of a Caribbean media team. As they have demonstrated in other arenas, their reaction has often been to reward their friends and operate punitively towards their critics. The problem is that criticism is inherent to any open system, and democracies are premised on the assumption that people have differing views, including about how any given administration is performing. Putting financial pressure on a vehicle which they perceive as giving expression to critical views cannot be in consonance with the norms of an open society.
The government’s lack of understanding of the workings of a democratic system – which they have reduced simply to free and fair elections – was reflected last year in the statements of some of their ministers, who, it might be added, also showed a contempt for the people of this country. After years in power and with no effective opposition at the current time, they perhaps felt no need even to appear to conform to the conventions which apply in standard democracies. There was Minister Lall, of course, who did not seem to consider that as a senior official he was accountable to the public or owed them any explanation for what constituted inappropriate behaviour. Not until six weeks after a brawl occurred and he fired his weapon in the air did he condescend to make a statement. The General Secretary of the PPP went as far as to say in effect that the public outcry had been caused by Stabroek News, which had reported on the matter far more than the other media. Now Mr Ramotar is not in government, but he has declared his interest in becoming a presidential candidate. This notwithstanding he appears to have had no qualms about implying firstly, that the electorate is incapable of deciding for itself when standards have been breached, and secondly, that this newspaper should not have given the issue exposure. The conclusion is, of course, that he really didn’t consider the incident a matter of consequence, and as such it leaves open the question of what kind of standards his party believes apply in public life, and what their real views are about the rule of law.
The situation was not helped by Minister Rohee and his extraordinary remarks about people being more concerned about food than torture, with the implication that torture by the security forces is acceptable. Exactly where Mr Rohee got the bizarre notion that food and torture were comparable concepts is a mystery, but that aside, once again his comments raise disturbing questions about the government’s commitment to the rule of law and human rights, more especially since he is the Minister of Home Affairs, no less. In addition, what is the point of major projects to reform the police force, if Mr Rohee is comfortable with illegal methods of procedure? And if he is comfortable with illegal methods of procedure, then what happened to the much vaunted democracy which the PPP has been trumpeting since 1992?
If there was arrogance on the home front, then there was timidity on the foreign one, more especially after Venezuelan soldiers invaded Guyana’s land and airspace, destroying two dredges in the Cuyuni River in the process. A relatively low-level Venezuelan delegation did eventually appear in Georgetown with a document in hand, which the Minister of Foreign Affairs said contained an expression of regret; however, it seems that no compensation was forthcoming for the dredge owners.
The media was also told that Venezuela was open to Guyana’s proposal for a mechanism to be set up to prevent future border incidents. Why we should regard that as necessary when Venezuela has caused all the incidents to date and all that is required is for that country to refrain from violating our territory, was not explained. After all, we are still waiting for some satisfaction over the killing of a Guyanese citizen by the Venezuelan army when on Guyanese terrain in 2006. Government’s reluctance to fully internationalize the issue – although something was said at the Commonwealth conference in Uganda – is no doubt at least partly explained by the fact that the administration asked the aggressor for an emergency shipment of fuel in order to avoid a petrol shortage. We are, of course, beneficiaries too under the PetroCaribe agreement.
What will change in 2008 remains to be seen, although the economic pressures on the ordinary citizen are not likely to be reduced. We have been led to expect that there will be a Cabinet reshuffle, although when that will take place only the President knows. As far as the current ministers go, the star is far and away Minister Priya Manickchand, who brought an energy and humanity to the discharge of her duties which did her credit. While every year brings some good news in the form of projects or whatever, it is understandable if people are not too optimistic about any changes of a structural nature taking place in 2008 – the kind of changes which would supply evidence of a governmental commitment to the constitution, democratic practice and the rule of law.