Dear Editor,
I wish to thank the writer of the SN editorial, ‘IMCs,’ (May 27), for helping to define President Donald Ramotar’s reference to “village economies,“ which the President uttered during his Independence Day speech. Prior to that day, I have never heard the use of this terminology in Guyana’s political lexicon, and wondered whether it was something the President learned while spending time in communist Europe.
Now that I know it means the PPP is seeking to rebuild and also broaden its sphere of control over national life by gaining traction in local government organs on the ground level and working its way up, even as it is trying to see if it could do the same thing through the judicial organs (courts) downward, I think it is time for APNU, the AFC, the private media (Fourth Estate) and public-spirited citizens to band together to ensure the PPP does not emerge as an elected dictatorship under President Ramotar. Heaven knows that Bharrat Jagdeo tried and was blunted.
Editor, I really cannot fathom the wacky thinking of the PPP, which seems to say that as long as it is elected to form the government, this is a mandate to do whatever it wants to ensure it becomes the embodiment of the country. From it must flow every decision and action pertaining to Guyana and Guyanese, sans the checks and balance system, but this can only lead to a subjugation of the government and people to the whims and fancies of the ruling party. This is not good for the sanity and stability of a nation that is sick and tired of party paramountcy.
That is why if there is an iota of truth in the editorial that the PPP is seeking to expand its sphere of influence via the IMCs, then it runs counter to the spirit of democracy, which the PPP gives lip service to, when it keeps talking about the return of democracy in 1992 and the staging of local government elections on its watch. In fact, the word from the PPP and its government since last year is that local government elections could be held before the end of 2012, so why are the party and its government becoming so busy at this time trying to replace problematic NDCs with IMCs?
We have not had local government elections since 1994 because the PPP and PNC agreed to have local government reforms first. After almost 18 years, do they really care about the constitutional rights of Guyanese?
Kaieteur News of March 20, 2010 carried a news story under the caption, ‘Ramotar willing to have Local Govt. Elections under old system: reforms could be worked on and introduced when completed.’ So, what is stopping him from making good on his own belief? Is this not the same man who gave the impression he’d be different from his predecessor? Did he not promise to address the corruption in government problem?
Meanwhile, Gecom says it is ready for snap elections if these are called, and while many of us have read that as a signal to the PPP and its government to go ahead whenever they are ready, one has a right to ask why the government isn’t keeping its word by informing the nation when exactly LG Elections will be held? And even if snap elections include presidential, regional and local government elections, the PPP and its government are still sending a troubling message: it desperately wants to control Guyana and Guyanese. It is all about the PPP and not the people!
I close by asking Guyanese who are capable of reading the political tea leaves not to be complacent and compromise their rights for 30 pieces of silver, or some political pottage. They should not betray themselves and posterity or sell their birthright. An Interim Management Committee should only be established in the event of a massive crisis the current administrators cannot resolve, and even then the word ‘interim’ should be strictly adhered to, with specific objectives within a specific timeframe.
An IMC should never be used as a political mechanism to promote a partisan agenda when people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake. In Linden, there has been an IMC running the municipality for almost a decade; does the word ‘interim’ make any sense here? In Georgetown, the PPP and its government have been trying really hard to run Mayor Green and company out of office and set up an IMC, but they have been stopped on every try. This is how it should be until the government does the right thing by the people of Guyana.
If the local government situation in Guyana is going to be changed, first by using the old local government system and then reforms, then so be it; but we cannot have an exchange and call it a change. We thought we had a change of government in 2011, but it turned out we had an exchange, with the replacement proving worse than the replaced.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
