Dear Editor,
Mr Donald Ramotar in his letter ‘A Goebbels culture held aloft by the opposition’ (KN, May 18) makes the important point that the PNC missed an earlier opportunity to reform the Constitution of Guyana. In the light of the devastation being inflicted on the country by the narcotics economy, and by the promise of the erasure of social decency by proposed investments in two casino hotels, that missed opportunity by the PNC has turned out to be a major disaster.
In fact, the PNC really erred, not after 1992 as Mr Ramotar suggests, but during the period when Mr Hoyte was president between 1985 and 1990. The authoritarian state required democratisation just as much as markets needed liberalisation. The counterpart change was necessary especially as the society was changing course from 30 years of racially polarised efforts at self determination.
The reduced immunities of the president that Mr Ramotar hails as a liberalising measure were promptly absorbed by an authoritarian PPP. The dynamics of autocracy changed. In the context of the PPP, more individuals determined the course of events – Dr Jagan was afraid of another Duncan Sandys mistake – but the authoritarian state was by no means liberalised.
The institutions – the courts, the civil service, the public services – were not democratised. A culture of public service independence was not put in place. Dr Jagan, who was the originator of the party paramountcy concept in his 1957 to 1964 regime, insisted on favoured candidates for positions as senior functionaries. Public service independence is not to be confused with autonomy. Public service independence derives from the ability to provide, without fear or favour, unbiased data and theoretically sound analyses for guidance to the executive in decision-making. However, for as long as the president has to give final approval to the appointment of the public service commissions, that independence will always be compromised.