Dear Editor,
In his message for the International Day of Democracy, September 15, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared the theme of this year’s Day as “space for civil society.” This can be understood as the role of non-politicians in decisions affecting their nation. Across the world, ordinary people are making their voices heard against the exploitation of elected power for minority gains. Who’s listening in Guyana, or is that just another foreign notion?
It is quite ironic that only those who made it into elected office in the government can come up with good ideas, or decide which ideas to give attention to. For Guyanese especially, it is frightening that politicians should have a lock on ideas for the national interest. Appointed on grounds internal to the majority party, a minister may make private decisions, with or without advice from experts of his/her own choice.
The minister chooses – or chooses not – to make public detailed reasons for a decision affecting the people. The people have little chance of making sense of the rationale for government policy; even less chance when the politician says he has consulted experts. We are left to trust both politicians and experts, whether or not they offer explanations that we can agree with. If that trust is justified by results, then they get to keep their jobs. That’s the idea of democracy. But democratic representation also contains an ongoing understanding between governors and governed. If a politician or an expert can’t render a complex matter in simple terms that can be understood by ordinary people, then we’re all in trouble. Guyanese experience trains us to distrust both politicians and experts. There are always background agendas affecting decision-making, against which the only safeguard is openness to public scrutiny and public input. If that takes time, then that’s the cost of democracy.
Yours faithfully,
Gordon Forte
