Recently, Newt Gingrich criticised President Obama for being too nuanced in his policy-making and Fareed Zakaria, on one of his CNN programmes, rightly wondered why being nuanced should be criticised. Of course, anyone who peruses our political landscape can have no such complaint. In general, political subtleties appear foreign to us and history seems to inform that the psychological and practical appreciation of the need for nuanced approaches only gradually develops where there are credible institutional checks on the use of power. Outside of the recent electoral stalemate, such checks have largely been absent in Guyanese politics, as a result of which our politics is epitomised by the vulgar use of power.
Even though my focus here is upon the PPP/C, make no mistake: notwithstanding the general grandstanding, this mindset pervades the entire society. The PPP/C regime does not like to compromise and until recently has not constitutionally been in a position where it had to do so. Its apparent unwillingness/incapacity to engage in debate on issues is clearly seen in, among other things, its inability to deal with our capital city; collective bargaining; the recent quarrel over the speakership of the National Assembly; the national cricketing dispute and now the dismissal of Mr. Frederick Kissoon. Thus, it has become a mantra in opposition circles that to get the government to make concessions it has to be threatened with “mo fiah,” street demonstrations, etc. Indeed, even with the new parliamentary dispensation,