Saying there is need to widen the participation of citizens in national decision-making, former leader of the Reform group Stanley Ming has disclosed plans for a national conversation to seek consensus on the future of the country.
“The only way we can come around to seeing what the people of Guyana want is to engage them in conversation,” Ming told Stabroek News last week, while dismissing the possibility of a new political movement as an immediate objective. He emphasised: “The immediate objective is to find a way to move the country forward, having consulted as widely as possible with the people of the country.”
Ming recently indicated an interest in re-entering active politics with his endorsement of Winston Murray’s candidacy for PNCR leader ahead of the party’s Biennial Congress last month. He had also secured the commitment of former Reform members to return to work with the party. However, Murray’s campaign was unsuccessful and despite some concern raised about the electoral processes he conceded to incumbent Robert Corbin.
Ming recalled the objective of the Reform group, whose members he said set out to change the political culture by ensuring more involvement of the people in the decision-making process.
However, by the last general elections, Reform members had withdrawn from the PNCR, with Ming later saying that they did not feel at the time that they could contribute to the political process in a way they would have liked. The Reform component has been formally integrated into the party, but apart from Dr George Norton none of its original members are involved in the work of the PNCR. In addition to Ming, Eric Phillips, Jerome Khan, Peter Ramsaroop, Dr Mark Kirton and Supriya Singh also left the party.
According to Ming, the decision to support Murray was based on him being an older politician who has firmly embraced the need to broaden the political opposition, being open to participation by civil society and non-governmental organisations in the decision-making process. He noted too that it was Murray and several younger members of the party who had supported his effort to establish a broad platform to contest the 2006 general elections. Ming did not think that party leader Corbin embraced the effort at the time. “I came forward to support Mr. Murray so we could re-establish the kind of dialogue and conversation to widen participation of citizens in the process that governs their everyday lives,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ming said that other options within the democratic process would be explored. He said he had spoken to both Murray and another supporter Dr Richard Van West Charles and agreed that there was no need for a “knee-jerk reaction” to the situation. “I think everybody knows what transpired there,” he said, referring to the party elections, adding, “Even — as they say — Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder could tell you what transpired.”
Ming said he and other former Reform members would, in coming months, seek to engage the Guyanese people in a conversation and based on feedback they would determine whether and how they would re-engage in active political life. “My thinking is that the country can only move forward when we have real, broad-based participation in the true sense of the word,” he said. He further noted that a political movement is necessary to drive the process of change, adding that the affairs of the country cannot be run from the sidelines. “My ambition is not to be the President,” Ming said, “my ambition is to work with as broad a group as possible… so that we could determine what it is wrong — what is it that needs to be fixed — to be able to say to the Guyanese people that this is what needs to be done and we as a group of citizens are prepared to engage the Guyanese masses to see how best we can bring about this inclusionary process.”
He added that such a process would necessarily involve both the PPP/C and the PNCR but also noted the need for great constitutional reform to revamp the political system. “The President cannot be exempted from the law and not report to the parliament, all that has to change,” he explained, adding that constitution reform is an ongoing process in other countries to ensure transparency and accountability. “We are in need of that now,” he said.
A mockery
Ming had served as a Member of Parliament for the PNCR from 2001 to 2006, when he resigned from the party. He said his experience in the National Assembly, which included work on the Public Accounts Committee and the Sectoral Committee on Social Services, was ultimately “extremely disappointing. Because what I found was that the system that we inherited from the British, after we became independent, has not served or will not serve the interest of the country or its people very well, if we continue the way it is,” he said. He lamented the fact that the government’s simple majority carries the vote on most pieces of legislation, which he felt did not make for an effective system.
Noting that a lot of people are under the false impression that there is room for participation, Ming drew a distinction between participation in debates and participation in the decision-making process. He cited the controversial casino gambling law as an example, which was met with broad opposition from both civil society and the opposition political parties. “At the end of the day… the government went ahead and passed it because it had a simple majority,” he said, adding that whatever contributions any of the opposition parties want to make are irrelevant under the present system. “It is a mockery of what one could consider a truly democratic system,” he declared, saying that he could debate anybody who would argue otherwise.
However, he expressed hope that future generations would recognise the “failure and backwardness” that he believes has transpired since independence and that an evolution of the political culture would lead to citizens demanding accountability, transparency, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
He cautioned that change would not happen overnight but was optimistic nevertheless that the Guyanese people would recognise that there is “a total breakdown of law and order,” as well as the government’s “total lack of accountability” for resources of the state. He pointed to the failure to establish the Public Procurement Commission, which was to ensure value for money and fairness in the award of contracts. “I personally believe that the masses of Guyanese are not satisfied with their lot in the present time,” he said, noting that the government continues to spend funds on projects that don’t result in any benefit. Ming added that once people begin to recognise that what the government is doing with taxpayers’ money is not a favour but a responsibility they would not sit back and accept what is being rammed down their throats. “There is not enough emphasis being placed on what Guyanese should be demanding or are entitled to,” he said. “There is also a failing on the part of those who know better; those who should be governing the affairs of the state; those preying on the insecurities of the uneducated masses and keeping them in a state of fear, one ethnic group against the other; that has been the demise of our country for the last forty years.”