Stabroek News has invited the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change to submit a weekly column on local government and related matters. The PPP/C has declined the offer. Only APNU has submitted a column this week.
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic Administration has chastised, pilloried and ridiculed recently outgoing United States Ambassador, D. Brent Hardt. The Ambassador’s big ‘sin’ was to call on the Donald Ramotar Administration to hold local government elections. He told attendees at a forum arranged by the Blue Caps – a NGO – that civil society must also demand that the Executive hold these elections which was crucial to democracy.
Clement Rohee, PPP General Secretary, accused Ambassador Hardt of meddling in Guyana’s internal affairs. The PPP further accused the US diplomat of “…breaching all diplomatic protocols” and of launching “a barrage of anti-government farewell salvoes towards the Office of the President and Freedom House, Headquarters of the People’s Progressive Party.” Ambassador Hardt, according to the PPP, had once again displayed his proclivity for petty, partisan and unadulterated anti-government politicking.
Priya Manickchand, while performing the duties of Foreign Affairs Minister, was next to harangue Mr. Hardt. Manickchand, at a ceremony hosted by the Ambassador to celebrate American Independence Day, exhibited a total lack of decorum in delivering an inappropriate, unjustified and utterly crude message to the departing diplomat.
Manickchand’s uncivil and uncouth behaviour came in for deserved condemnation from a wide cross-section of civil society organizations, media houses and influential persons. Her undiplomatic outburst, however, caused her governmental colleagues to rush to her defence. They said that she was merely expressing the government’s position on the Ambassador’s conduct. Dr. Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, gleefully described Manickchand’s message to be “fitting and feral”, others deemed the government’s attack to be wholly unmerited and unjustified.
There is no evidence to support the government’s accusations that Ambassador Hardt frequently displayed “petty, partisan and unadulterated anti-government politicking” during his tenure. The Ambassador, on the contrary, in consistently and regularly calling on the government to hold local government elections, has proven himself to be a genuine friend of Guyana. Democratic forces in our country have been demanding that the Ramotar administration honours the constitutional requirement to hold these elections.
There is nothing partisan or petty or remotely anti- government in calling on a government to uphold the laws of a country or to respect and honour its constitution. The PPP/C, however, continues to show its despotic nature in seeking to humiliate persons who expose their anti-democratic credentials and character.
Calling on the PPP/C to honour constitutional provisions relating to local democracy and support for the democratic process was not something that Ambassador Hardt ‘discovered’ during his tenure here. These were goals and ideals that the Ambassador clearly felt to be a worthwhile pursuit and as evidenced by what was probably his first public address since being posted to Guyana.
Ambassador Hardt, in his address to Rotary Members on February 25, 2012 at New Amsterdam, said:
“Through USAID, we provided training and support to GECOM, including fingerprint verification of electoral lists that boosted confidence in the fairness of the electoral playing field. We supported voter education outreach, election observation, and media code of conduct training.
All these efforts strengthened the even more critical efforts of thousands of dedicated Guyanese to ensure the success of the electoral process, which resulted in an historic outcome that has given all Guyanese a seat at the political table in a reinvigorated National Assembly.
The revitalized dialogue and debate between the executive and legislative branches of government – as difficult as it may seem at times – is the very essence of a vigorous democracy. In this regard, I applaud the initiative of the new Speaker of the Assembly and its Members to bring the Assembly closer to the people, make it more accessible, and build popular understanding of the Assembly’s vital legislative and oversight roles.
For it is essential for all countries in the Hemisphere to look beyond the election process, which is a necessary but not sufficient measure of effective democracy, to the deeper roots of enduring democracy – active and engaged citizen participation in the political process. Here, too, the United States has been pursuing partnerships through our engagement with the media, University of Guyana, the private sector, and civil society organizations to help strengthen these critical foundational pillars to democracy.”
A Partnership for National Unity – APNU – decries the government’s efforts to denigrate Ambassador Hardt’s efforts as being partisan or anti-national and applauds him for his laudable efforts to promote democratic principles
APNU, over many years, has sought to prepare the groundwork for local government elections. Elections are essential to bringing democracy to the local communities where people feel the impact of government most directly. All political parties are agreed on the need for such elections and should welcome the support of the United States for this vital step forward in Guyana’s democratic evolution.
