Dear Editor,
The fledgling state of any government transition is the best opportunity to attack emerging signs of autocracy, authoritarianism and anti-democracy because there is still time to change course. It also opens a vital debate on the democratic future of the country from the very start of a new government. History has proven, for 24 and 23 years, that this country with all its fractious ethnic warts cannot advance in a dictatorial model. Democracy has to be tried and fully so. It is our best shot at salvation.
Firstly, I have deep concerns with the number of ministries, the lack of information on the personnel and absence of explanation on the reasons for these ministries. A nation of 750,000 people does not need a president, 18 ministers, 8 junior ministers and 18 permanent secretaries. The coalition has no excuse now not to deliver in 100-days and other promises. Secondly, the Cabinet has 8 AFC members and 19 APNU members. This is a serious breach of the Cummingsburg Accord’s 40/60 split. Thirdly, in a frightening first, the presidency has not only created its own ministry, which contravenes the spirit of the Cummingsburg Accord, it has gone even further and created two further ministerial posts within the Ministry of the Presidency: the Ministries of Governance and Citizenship. Again, this is a direct attempt to undermine the Cummingsburg Accord and the inherent democratic surety of that agreement. Fourthly, the two additional ministries under the Ministry of the Presidency (governance and citizenship) are both areas that are within the domestic domain, which the accord puts under the PM’s administration.
Fifthly, one of these sub-ministries (Governance) seems a blatant attempt to interfere with future constitutional change, an area that was removed from presidential oversight and placed under the PM’s watch under the accord. Now, we have the disturbing concoction of the PM, Minister of Governance (within the Ministry of the Presidency) and the Minister of Social Cohesion (APNU’s Amna Ally) all responsible for constitutional change. This is playing a nefarious game with the most important agenda in this country: constitutional change aimed at reducing the powers of the presidency and improving the separation of powers, both of which will significantly improve democracy and life itself in Guyana.
The question is whether this is a case of presidential imposition or an agreement between the signatories to the Cummingsburg Accord (APNU and AFC) to openly breach the very agreement upon which voters voted for them in the recent elections. Regardless of whether this is direct presidential authoritarianism or collaborative despotism or whether the Cummingsburg Accord is a private agreement or the internal democratic shortcomings of both the AFC and APNU (there are many), the accord with its reduction of excess presidential authority is good for democracy. The recent antics of the former PPP president in proroguing Parliament confirms that. Make no mistake, the coalition secured a major part of its vote share from voters who only voted because of the Cummingsburg Accord and the security they felt from the presence of the accord. This is because the PNC suffers from the colossal mistrust of the majority of the population. These early gambits will reignite the mistrust.
Electoral and governmental change do not equate to democratic change. The fact that there was no strategic wait to make these anti-democratic moves suggest that these stratagems were likely planned or that the heady rush of absolute power has already corrupted the perspicacity to think and act democratically and decently for the sake of the nation and its very future.
David Granger turns 70 in less than two months. He will be 75 by the next election. Moses Nagamootoo will be 72 years then. They both know they cannot live forever. The failures of the PNC under Hoyte and the PPP just recently in making the constitution and polity more democratic and equitable before the inevitable loss of power happened are well-known to both of them. They can leave a legacy of proper democracy or one that continues the PNC and
PPP’s failed authoritarianism. The nation is watching. The world is watching. Let us see what kind of constitutional change this government will advance in light of these recent troubling events. The bottom line is that they better get it right, right now.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
