In a scene which can only be called Jagdeoesque, President Donald Ramotar addressed the nation on Friday night and inflamed rather than calmed passions. I am flabbergasted that the PPP/C administration continues to operate as if they were given a clear mandate by the people at the last elections. This was a perfect opportunity for Mr Ramotar to address the nation and explain to the populace that what they had just witnessed was democracy in action. It was not a perfect process, and it was akin to watching black pudding being made (the process was messy) but hopefully the end product would be palatable to the nation; that his party did not get everything they wanted but the people‘s representatives had spoken.
The name calling did not advance the cause of the minority PPP/C government. In my opinion it further isolated that group from the mainstream electorate that voted for change. It was this same crass approach that cost the PPP/C their majority in the legislature; it was this same all or nothing attitude that the President now tries to pin on the parliamentary majority that caused the PPP/C to lose the last election. After almost 20 years of continuous abuse of the parliamentary system and the budgetary process, the people of Guyana were this year treated to a civics lesson in government and parliamentary procedure. We saw members debating and seeking clarity on budgetary allocations; we saw the rebuttals and then we saw the people‘s representatives vote to spend our money in the best interest of all. That the President would see that as a negative process, just because Dr Singh’s budget was not rubber stamped by the majority, speaks to his and the PPP/C’s brand of democracy. Where was the intransigence, where was the lack of patriotism, where was the destruction of workers rights?
History will show that it was the PPP/C which was intransigent and foolhardy when upon gaining the presidency, they did not engage in any meaningful power-sharing outreach to the groups that gained the majority of the votes. It was the intransigence of the PPP/C government to continue to enable GINA and the NCN with taxpayer dollars in spite of the calls by the political opposition and international elections observers, that these organs of the state were horribly tilted towards the PPP/C viewpoint. It was the PPP/C government that destroyed the public service unions and the collective bargaining agreements in Guyana, with the advent of contract employees; it was the PPP/C government that withheld the subvention for the Critchlow Labour College; it was the PPP/C government that continues to administer a country of 83,00 square miles with one government controlled radio station; it is the PPP/C government that despite a court ruling continues to saddle the people of Linden with NCN propaganda; It was the PPP/C government that refused to issue radio licences to both Kaieteur News and Stabroek News.
Editor, it would have been refreshing and educational if the President had explained why his party refused to grant an increase to workers in the public sector; why they refused to lower the VAT to 14%; why they refused to suspend the exorbitant super salaries to contract workers at the Office of the President and other government ministries. The population would have been better served if we were told why money could be found for the Marriott deal and no money for a pay increase to struggling clerks and servants in government employ. The dire predictions of retarded development due to the current budget cuts must be viewed as political rhetoric and Mr Ramotar pandering to what‘s left of his base.
What happened during the Budget debate was a breath of fresh air and a shot in the arm for democracy in Guyana. If the PPP/C and the President think otherwise and move towards early elections then let me be the first to predict that the result they seek will not be forthcoming.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Archer
