Even those of us who are not particularly religious have been socialised into putting great store upon the notion of individual responsibility, based essentially upon a belief in “good” and “evil”. Perhaps it is largely for this reason that politicians, with their rosy promises, find it fairly easy to get their hooks into us by presenting themselves and their parties as “good”.
Usually, we never reach their promised land, not simply because politicians are “evil” but also because we fail to properly assess the fitness of the road for taking us to our desired destination. Indeed, many a time the politicians are not even aware that they need to make an assessment!
They start their journey depending upon received wisdom that others have successfully reached the destination taking this familiar route. Of course, when they fail to get there, we accuse them of being wicked and/or incompetent but immediately take off after another group to similar effect.
Cheddi Jagan was a selfless politician, but he also suffered from the “good person” delusion and thus paid little interest to the state of the road. A constitution that, by Jagan’s own account, under Forbes Burnham and his PNC, led to poverty, corruption and discrimination was not a problem under him and his PPP: they were not racist and corrupt and would definitely bring great development!
This has largely been the course of modern Guyanese political history. It has been marked by a failure to properly address the institutions under which we are governed, and this has affected every area of our existence.
By all means, if not an oxymoron, try to find “good” politicians! But if you believe that the poverty in which we live is due mainly to the evil and avariciousness of previous politicians, brace yourself!
Crucially: it is time to fix the road.
Quite apart from a belief that a civil society person as the coalition presidential candidate would have mitigated the leaching of support from the AFC, my preference for Mr. Ralph Ramkarran (stated last week) was because I believe that he understands more than most the need to fix the road if our politics is to become more inclusive and meaningfully contribute to development.
As evidence of this, two weeks ago, he called upon the PPP to embrace constitutional change, although I think that call was a waste of time for the party leadership has found itself in a personal security dilemma of its own making that prevents it from making any effort to fix the road.
I am not certain that we can meaningfully speak of individuals having constituencies in our ethnic political environment, but with Ramkarran and Nagamootoo on the same slate with a programme that is specific, time-bound and national, the PPP would not now have been smirking. I believe that Ramkarran and Nagamootoo would have been able not only to convince many not to return to the PPP but more to take the leap to towards constitutional change and a more secure and better Guyana.
My second favoured choice was Moses Nagamootoo as the alliance presidential candidate with also a clear mandate to go back to elections as possibly individual parties once the constitutional reforms have been made. This would have made unnecessary the resort to numerous archaic vice-presidents and constitutionally questionable devices to shore up Mr. Nagamootoo’s and AFC’s prestige, which has been a propaganda gift to the PPP.
Concern has been expressed in some quarters that a Nagamootoo-led coalition would have resulted in many Afro-Guyanese not voting, even if this would have brought to government a political arrangement that is largely African dominated.
Go to the latest Latin American Public Opinion Project (www.lapopsurveys.org). Generally, satisfaction with democracy in Guyana declined in 2014 from 46.5% in 2006 to 40%. In 2014 only 28.5% of Africans but 48.1% of Indians and 39.6% of other groups said that they were satisfied with our democracy. This ranged from 27.47% in Georgetown to 46.03% in regions 6,5 and 2.
Only 19.7% of Africans believed that the government is interested in people like them against 37.7% of Indians and 31.6% of others.
Guyana has the lowest level of trust in the police – 35.5% – in the entire region, including the US with 54.5%, Canada 67.2%, Haiti 57.7% and even Jamaica with 38.3%. Trust in the police declined among Africans from 41.5% in 2012 to 24.3% in 2014. The figures for Indians are 51.3% to 41.49% and others 44.11% to 37%.
Given this backdrop, if a political leadership with the right programme cannot convince its traditional supporters to go en masse to the polls, it is not worth its salt. But these claims that Africans would not vote appear to me more of the usual oligarchic manipulation that projects elite ambition ahead of the needs of its constituency.
Even in a partisan political environment, the coalition project, as I envisioned it, was to attempt to carve out a space and create a national movement to focus upon fixing the way we are governed and deal with some other pressing matters contained in the programme I have published (“A time-bound coalition programme is essential” SN: 25/02/2015).
It goes without saying that the optimality of that approach has been compromised by the manner in which the coalition was formed, but perhaps something can still be salvaged.
First and foremost, the coalition must do all it can to broaden its representational base and even at this late stage present itself as a national movement. The production of the party’s manifesto may provide one opportunity for doing this. Civil society and the diaspora can be consulted about what that document should contain and be given some opportunity to participate in its final construction. Given that constitutional reform must be a part of such a document, such civil consultations should also include members of the previous -1999-2001- constitutional process.
Secondly, the manifesto should eschew the usually fuzziness and present specific time-related events focused on specific groups. Indeed, a good part of the coalition propaganda should be specifically directed.
Finally, constitutional reform within a specific timeframe should be adopted as the major goal of the new government and given to Mr. Nagamootoo to deliver upon. This will be a major undertaking, which should be driven largely by civil society and include consulting experts in the field and seeking the intervention not only of all Guyanese but everyone else who could make a contribution.
Best of luck to the coalition, but it is time we fix the road.
henryjeffrey@yahoo.com
