With general elections set for May 11 and with one of the likely outcomes a hung Parliament, it is imperative that a minority government works with a majority opposition, outgoing British High Commission-er to Guyana Andrew Ayre has said.
“The reality is there needs to be an improvement in political maturity in Guyana. You know I think that the scenario that you have faced in the last three years may well be repeated. One of the outcomes of the 2015 elections is a very similar set-up potentially so what is Guyana gonna do then? Have another three years of standoff? I think that would be a very great shame for Guyana and it would damage Guyana’s interests as well,” Ayre told Stabroek News in an exclusive interview at the British High Commission on Friday.
In the 2011 elections, the PPP/C won a plurality of the votes and gained the Presidency but the joint opposition took control of the National Assembly. However, with repeated clashes between the two sides, gridlock ensued and facing a no-confidence vote that could have seen the fall of his government, President Donald Ramotar suspended the House last year. He has since called elections, 18 months before his term ends even as Parliament remains suspended.
Ayre told Stabroek News that the 2011 elections result was a missed opportunity. “There is nothing special about Guyana having a minority government, nothing special at all. Most parliaments, most democracies have minority governments so I don’t accept this necessarily had to be a lose-lose situation as opposed to a win-win situation. It was quite clear that unless a minority government works with a majority opposition, we will get nowhere. It’s quite clear. And that would happen in any country and therefore a government has to accommodate the majority opposition in order to stay in power. That’s a simple statement of arithmetical fact,” he said.
While emphasising that it is for the people of Guyana to determine what the outcome of the elections are, Ayre said that he hopes that there is a more mature discourse after the next elections regardless of what the outcome is.
“The UK would like to see a mature democracy here and further moves towards that. The reality is that there are plenty of countries in the world where we’re moving towards a more complex political environment than existed previously and I think political leaders have to acknowledge that that’s happening and react to it in the appropriate way,” he asserted.
The British diplomat stated that he hopes that the 2015 elections is free, fair and peaceful. He also expressed the hope that the country can develop more and said that for this to happen the political scene has to mature so that talented Guyanese do not feel a need to migrate in order to better themselves.
Migration
“It’s quite clear in a country that’s the size of the UK, if you have significant outward migration of talented people, you’re gonna struggle to develop in a country of this size with the people that are left. So whoever wins that election has to tackle outward migration and the reasons for that and they have to tackle the business environment as well,” he declared.
Ayre said that it is no secret what the success stories have been for countries to develop rapidly from developing to developed. They need vibrant, functioning democracies, they need a business environment that is conducive to business and they need to tackle corruption, he emphasised. “These three measures are really, really important and when they are done, countries accelerate in developmental terms, forward rapidly,” he asserted, while adding that action needs to be taken to deliver that vision.
“There needs to be more effort made…more effort needs to be made, you can’t deliver a vision by talking about it, you can only deliver a vision by taking the required action. So whoever wins the election in 2015, I think the UK will be looking to assist in the delivery of those actions that are required to turn Guyana from a developing country into a developed country but there’s a long way to go of course,” the British diplomat said.
The UK had spoken out strongly against the suspension of Parliament and Ayre had previously called on the government to resume Parliament without further delay or lay out a timeline for the resumption of Parliamentary democracy.
He said that the matter was discussed at the ministerial level in the UK and added that it is important to note that the UK fully accepts that prorogation of parliament is allowed for in Guyana’s Constitution and neither he nor any UK minister had said anything different. “We know that there’s a provision inside Guyana’s constitution, we respect the fact that there is a provision inside Guyana’s constitution. I think it’s also important however to add that there is provision inside Guyana’s constitution for the requirement to have parliament, for example,” he said.
“These things have never been tested in the court of law, which one is more important than the other and the reality is that parliamentary democracy is very important for Guyana. It’s the key pillar in terms of the Commonwealth Charter and the requirements under that and therefore the UK attaches a great deal of importance to democracy in Guyana,” he said.
He added that there were no concerns about the non-dissolution of parliament as the date of elections has been announced and they assume that that will go ahead as planned.
“Essentially, what we have here is a country that under the Commonwealth Charter requires parliamentary democracy so while Guyana doesn’t have parliamentary democracy, it’s an issue of concern to the United Kingdom so we’re looking forward to the restoration of that parliamentary democracy which we hope will take place very shortly after the 11th of May,” he said.
Election observation
He noted that government has asked the UK to assist with election observation and he understands that other partners such as the Commonwealth Secre-tariat have been asked as well.
In terms of local government elections, Ayre said that the UK remains firmly attached to the constitutional requirement in Guyana to have local elections. “This is something that we want to see, we want to see it sooner rather than later,” he said while pointing out that it is now over 20 years since the last local government elections and this is a problem.
“You don’t have vibrant local democracy anymore because it’s fallen into disrepair. Clearly that impacts on people’s wellbeing, their development, all of those things that people want are essentially put on hold by the lack of local elections so the UK will continue to call for them,” the British diplomat said.
In noting the developments that have taken place over his tenure, Ayre identified the establishment of a trade and investment office as well as work on the serious organized crime portfolio as highlights. These are two key areas for the UK in Guyana along with the promotion of democracy which will remain a central UK objective worldwide, he said.
As it relates to business, Ayre said that the last figure he saw was that UK exports to Guyana had increased by 58% between 2013 and 2014. He noted that these were in the category of finished goods. There are other investment in the oil and mining industries that do not appear in these figures, he said.
Ayre has been in Guyana for the past three and a half years and he said that he had a fantastic time. He said that he is passionate about and believes in Guyana. He related that he has been to nearly every region but his favourite parts are Georgetown and the Rupununi.
The British diplomat said that he leaves Guyana with a heavy heart and asserted that a lot was achieved and he knows that his successor will push ahead with work that would continue to get the sort of outcomes that Guyana needs in order to increase its development and its potential.
He noted that the British High Commission here is a happy, high performing place and it has topped the league table in British global embassies on several occasions in last three or four years with the important point being that if an environment where Guyanese can excel is created, they will excel to world standards. The UK would like to see more opportunity for Guyanese to excel, ideally in Guyana, he said.
The British diplomat said that his best memories would involve people. Persons have been “overwhelmingly generous” to him and he has had some fantastic experiences, he said while identifying Stanley and Michelle Ming, Dane and Melissa Gobin and Gerry and Debbie Gouveia in this regard. Ayre said that he hopes someday to return to visit and said that his time here was probably the best three and a half years of his career.
Upon his return to the UK, Ayre will be one of the deputy heads in the Europe division in London and will be working on Turkey, Cyprus, Italy and Greece.
