Dear Editor,
The Chief Justice has ruled on the issue of presidential term limits. Whatever the merits of the ruling, there could be no doubt as to the intention of the legislation to limit presidential terms by the parties which voted in favour of legislation in the National Assembly. The fact that the legislation was supported by both the PPP/C and the APNU rendered the legislation fundamentally democratic and desirable.
Having regard to the above, the issue of a revisit of the issue of presidential term limits, regardless of how technically and legally sound it may be, does not in my view accord with the democratic wishes of an overwhelming body of public opinion.
The need to guard against the abuse of executive power by imposing presidential term limits has now become the accepted norm in modern democratic political systems, and has in fact become increasingly popular in several countries in the world including the United States of America and for that matter the hemisphere as a whole.
Presidential term limits are in my view a step in the right direction for Guyana, and indeed for all democratic societies, and every effort should be made by legislators from both sides of the political divide to have this institutionalised even if it means taking it to a national referendum.
As mentioned earlier, it is a useful mechanism to guard against the potential for the abuse of executive power while at the same time allowing for new and fresh faces to emerge at the helm of national leadership.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
