Dear Editor,
During the US presidential election between Bill Clinton and George Bush, Sr, the Democrat Bill Clinton coined the phrase, “It’s the economy stupid,” to highlight the disconnect between then President Bush and the electorate which was disenchanted with him and Republican fiscal policies. Politicians in the opposition and those who are concerned with or study Guyana’s travails would do well to follow the money trail of this PPP government. There is a pattern of events and people who are close to the government and who have profited from the relationship. This leads me to the conclusion that this PPP group has abandoned any pretence of caring for the electorate or of governing for the benefit of all Guyanese; it’s the money stupid.
There seems to be a stunning lack of curiosity and outrage by Guyanese in general but specifically by the independent media and opposition politicians about the puerile answers proffered by President Jagdeo and various cabinet members when they are challenged on the legality or propriety of how funds have been handled, and on questionable contracts and other financial irregularities.
Recently, Goldman Sachs, the giant American investment banking firm based in New York and believed by some to symbolize the global financial collapse, had fraud charges brought against them by the United States government. Well Goldman made “bad investments” and their behaviour wasn’t dismissed by regular Americans or the American government; they demanded accountability. CLICO Guyana made illegal investments, according to the Insurance Act, but President Jagdeo dismissed these as bad investments, indicating that Guyanese should delve no further and move on. There is also the case of concessions made by the administration that required parliament to act after the fact to make them legal; as well as the dolphin scandal; the remigrant duty-free scandal; single-source contracts; loans to build hotels, etc.
I haven’t even touched on money-laundering, police corruption, the daily bribery of low-level functionaries and a barely functional judicial system. And then there is the AFC, a party that I admire and support which has made a strategically misguided decision not to support any form of street protest. Isn’t freedom of assembly and peaceful protest a constitutionally guaranteed right of the people? Barticians got the government’s attention when they peacefully protested measures that the PPP tried to ram down their throats without genuine consultation. Power concedes nothing without a struggle, and the manner in which this kleptocratic government has wielded power it is unlikely that they will willingly accede to a more democratic form of government.
The tyranny that masquerades as a duly elected government will not cease unless and until there is a change in the system of governance, such as federalism which exists in the United States.
Then the electorate can have a direct say in who their elected representatives are and there would be credible checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. While the idea of federalism has gained a lot of interest in the diaspora, it was given some treatment locally in multiple letters and articles by Ravi Dev.
Unfortunately, the idea of federalism will remain a foreign concept to Guyanese as they remain vicariously wedded to the notion of socialism and communism as espoused by those who care only about retaining their ill-gotten gains. I suppose having a constitution (as amended in 2003) that is over 200 hundred pages long will do that to you. What child has the time to read and comprehend the document that is the highest law of the land, or dream and aspire to become president unless he or she is connected to the PPP or PNC twins? This is the same document the PPP disingenuously decried and called the Burnham constitution when they were in the opposition but tinkered with to maintain their stranglehold on power.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Jason