The formation of a Committee of Elders for Guyana has been mooted and it is envisaged that this would be a non-political grouping of upstanding retirees from the public or private sector.
Attorney Raphael Trotman, who made it clear that he was not speaking in his official capacity as Speaker of the House, said Guyana could benefit greatly from such a group. “The committee, group, forum it could go by any name is not a new idea original to me but it is an idea that could see the development of a council which could better resolve national issues,” Trotman said.
“Our default mode is crisis to crisis; we seem incapable of getting to a point of steadiness. The idea [is to have] eminent persons, who are not politically active but engaged in society organise themselves and give their input of how resolutions can be formed before we get to these crisis levels.”
Trotman said the committee could comprise 10 to 15 persons and be made up of former judges, inactive politicians, persons from the private sector, religious leaders and academics. He said, “You do not want a parallel decision-making body to the government. What they would become is a sounding board. If people saw that they can build a sound record of engaging and moving standstills forward it could be extremely beneficial.”
Trotman stated, “Of course I am not speaking as Speaker but look… at the budget discussions… these are the areas that may have contentions and this is what we hope to see get done.”
He said that with regard to the impasses, “I think both sides want to speak, but there is distrust from the past and that’s why a body like a committee of elders is needed.”
Trotman told Stabroek News that Kenya had such a mechanism. “Kenya has an elders’ engagement [forum] and for Guyana it could mean that ours could develop from a foreign agency or the United Nations… or it may be an idea for the public sector.” He noted that given the political climate in Guyana the initiation of a committee of elders would need to come from persons with no personal motivation.
He noted that the private sector has actively been trying to engage the public sphere and pointed out that such a committee would need to benefit from mediation training and that could be facilitated through such bodies as the UN or even Caricom.
But Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, deputy leader of APNU said, “I don’t think it matters much where the initiative comes from, having a group that can see the issues and are grounded in a non-partisan [way],” would be beneficial to moving forward when stalemates occur. He stated that years ago the Social Partners was an initiative that first tried to engage in stabilising the political gridlock. However “it didn’t last very long… I am not a person to say that because this did not work we must give up. Instead we can try again and continue to look for ways forward.”
Dr Roopnaraine stated that “I think it is incredibly important to create free spaces and by free spaces I mean no contaminations of partisan thinking”. He said that the political blockades are hindrances to development and a committee of elders was an initiative that could easily break down the mutual distrust. Dr Roopnaraine said that in the national debate, Guyana could always use more dialogue and guidance. “There is some petulance that needs to be overcome,” he said, and having respected members of society voice their opinions can act as a mirror for pointing out stubbornness.
In 2007, former South African President Nelson Mandela had formed a committee called ‘The Elders’, which is an international NGO utilised on a global scale to advocate for conflict resolution. Its members are: Nelson Mandela, Founder and Honorary Elder; Martti Ahtisaari, the tenth President of Finland, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and United Nations diplomat and mediator; Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian diplomat and former Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ela Bhatt, lawyer and founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India; Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian United Nations envoy and advisor; Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian Social democratic politician, diplomat, and physician, and an international leader in sustainable development and public health; Fernando H Cardoso, the 34th President of Brazil; Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize awardee; Graça Machel, Mozambican politician and humanitarian and Mandela’s wife; Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Desmond Tutu, South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop and Chair of The Elders.
Many countries have followed suit and have adopted the formula on a smaller more focused scale to tackle gridlock at the national and regional levels.
