GR: What we have witnessed in recent years – and more particularly in recent months – is the creation of new alliances amongst individuals and groups hitherto regarded as implacable foes. Do you regard the formation of these alliances as a step in the right political direction for Guyana?
MN:Yes, it is high time for meaningful alliance politics. Since the split in the united, nationalist movement in 1955 resulting in what became the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and People’s National Congress (PNC), all previous attempts at political unity have failed. The split saw the nation’s better known leaders, Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, walking in opposite directions and taking with them the major ethnic base of our Guyanese society.
Though Cheddi and Forbes have both died, the legacy of ethnic division remains. Over the past 60 years, a multi-ethnic, multi-party, national alliance has eluded us. But we are getting there now, with the APNU+AFC pre-election coalition.
GR: Thre are those who have argued that the country’s 10th Parliament was a failure in the sense that despite the fact that it housed a majority opposition the political controversy snuffed out its life prematurely. On the other hand, there are those who argue that the 10th Parliament provided us with a taste of real democracy. Which of those views would you embrace?
MN: Guyana’s Constitution beckons us all to work towards and to have an inclusive society. The Constitution also provides that a political party winning a plurality of votes could form the government even with a minority of seats in the National Assembly. There is no provision for post-election coalition. So, when the PPP formed the government after the 2011 election, and took 100% of executive power with less than a majority of seats in the House, it had invited its own demise.
A minority government that has been in office for 22 years, and had become growingly unpopular and corrupt, could have anticipated that it was only a matter of time that it could be forced to resign upon passing of a no-confidence motion that was supported by the combined opposition.
It was not controversies that brought the government down, but the weight of its own intransigence to bond with the parliamentary majority into a participatory democracy, its flagrant violation of the Constitution in refusing to implement much needed governance mechanisms like the Public Procurement Commission, and to hold local government elections, last held in 18 years, etc. The immediate cause for the no confidence motion which I tabled, was the unlawful spending by the Finance Minister of $4.5 billion in contempt of a decision of the National Assembly not to do so. He has since been impugned by the Chief Justice.
But the 10th parliament, with its warts and all, allowed Guyanese for the first time to see how a democracy ought to operate. The opposition exposed various wrong doings, and when they could, they voted against unpopular, oppressive measures or cut budgetary allocations for which adequate explanations had not been given. We cut flight-by-night projects, like the Specialty Hospital which were bound to fail, and criticized extravaganza and mis-spending. The opposition agitated for increased wages, increased pensions, and other benefits for the poor which helped to create the objective shift in mass support from the PPP to the opposition parties.
GR: Some political observers see Moses Nagamootoo as, perhaps, the key political figure in the general elections campaign in the sense that they regard his real mission as seeking to break the back of ethnic voting in Guyana. Is that the way you see yourself and if not what do you regard as your critical political mission in the forthcoming elections?
I see my role as a modest one, that is, to bring ethnic and political healing and reconciliation in Guyana. I have fought for this all my life, during the 50 plus years I have been in politics. My record is unassailable on this issue. When the APNU+AFC alliance wins, it would open the door to inclusive governance and, for the first time in post-independent Guyana, a multi-ethnic, multi-party government of National Unity would take shape.
GR: What, in your view, would be the critical message that the APNU+AFC coalition would wish to get across to the electorate?
MN: Don’t vote race. Vote on issues. Vote for a government to stop crime, fight corruption and create jobs. You have nothing to fear; nothing to lose if you voted APNU+AFC.
GR: During the coalition talks with APNU there was talk about whether a coalition could create sufficient political space to accommodate political factions/parties that were considered to be quite wide apart. Do you think that the requisite political space is there in which the two halves of the coalition can function comfortably as a cohesive unit?
The creation of political space is what brought the APNU+AFC together into an electoral alliance. The Valentine Day Accord is an act of necessity.Without it, Guyana returns to gridlock, and political chaos. Anything could happen then, and no one party would be capable of closing the lid of social upheavals. Coming together sends a message that we could back off from this dangerous precipice, and in doing this we created space for accommodation of different views, different ideas, with one purpose: how to free the country from the clutches of corrupt rule. That this alliance is political not ideological, makes it possible for other patriotic and nationalist bodies to join.
I believe that the pragmatic arrangement of sharing Cabinet portfolios and to include civil society representatives at the level of the List Representative and the Speaker of the National Assembly, allows political space for compromise and consensus-building.
GR: Political analysts have located the eventuality of the May 11 elections in your own advocacy of a vote of no confidence against the government. Could you sum up for us the essence of your loss of confidence in the PPP’s capability to govern Guyana?
MN: This election would bring a referendum on corruption and mismanagement. We have stated and
repeated the 101 reasons for our no confidence in the minority regime. We only wish to highlight that among these are the various unconstitutional acts of the Executives, including authorization for illegal spending of monies without parliamentary approval; failure to establish the Public Procurement Commission; refusal to hold local government elections after 17 years; non-functioning of the Integrity Commission to combat corruption among public officials; mis-use of state resources for partisan purposes, including domination of the state media and distribution of radio-internet-cable frequencies (spectrum) to friends and cronies, etc.
GR: How do you expect the AFC to fare (compared with the previous elections) in terms of vote-gathering and why do you think that the coalition possesses the requisite political ammunition to oust the PPP/C at the polls?
MN: We are doing well, very well. And we will fare well, very well. We have brought fresh energies into the political arena. We have aroused hope and re-kindled dreams that Guyana could be united. The young people see in the APNU+AFC an umbrella under which they can shelter, for job security, education opportunities, and specialized technical training.
People see in our leaders Guyanese with skill, education, vision and integrity. We have brought on to the table bold plans and a programme to create a new economy that would restore growth and spur development for all of our people.
GR: You may have severed political ties with the PPP but are you still a political disciple of Cheddi Jagan? AND do you think that he would have approved of where you now stand politically, and why?
MN:Dr. Cheddi Jagan (Joey) has acknowledged that had his father lived, he would have opted for a coalition government rather than prorogue parliament and hold fresh elections. Many share his views, even inside the PPP.
I have worked at the side of Cheddi Jagan for long enough to know that he had longed for, and worked towards what he himself described as a “new beginning” when we could have racial and national unity. The APNU+AFC alliance is a bold step towards realizing that dream. Cheddi Jagan would come alive on May 12, when we form a Government of National Unity.