During the previous administration of the PPP/C, many commentators described the political status quo in Guyana as a zero sum game.
With the dramatic defeat (first, effectively, in parliament, and then at the polls) of the Donald Ramotar led PPP/C government over a year ago, and the installation of the APNU+AFC coalition party as the new government, many are now attempting to evaluate the changes in the political status quo. The question must be asked: Is politics in Guyana still a zero sum game under the APNU+AFC coalition?
The zero sum game theory is simple to understand. It is a mathematical representation of a scenario whereby any gain by a player(s) is equal to the loss by the other player(s). In this situation there is no overall increase in benefits or gains, only an exchange of the ownership of the rewards of the game.
In the past months, the leadership of the political opposition has mobilized supporters for a series of protest actions against the Guyana Elections Commission. This action, meant to pressure the Chairman to leave, may well form part of a wider strategy to delegitimize the sitting government and re-claim power possibly through forcing early elections à la Donald Ramotar.
The party has therefore immediately resumed campaign mode and leading members of the PPP/C have basically said so in as many words. In its first intervention after losing the elections, former President Ramotar issued a statement on behalf of the previous regime saying, “Once again we are being removed from office, not through the will of the people, but by electoral manipulation.” This was to set in train a series of strategic manoeuvrings by the parliamentary opposition seen as setting the groundwork for early elections in a bid to hasten the return of the PPP/C to the reins of power in Guyana.
At the time of voting during the local government elections, Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, made no secret of a strategy to energise and consolidate support among the Indian ethnic base of his party, saying, “There is no hidden agenda here. Everyone knows where the bulk of the support of the two parties comes from – APNU and PPP. A significant amount of our support comes from rural folks and Indo-Guyanese.”
PPP General Secretary Clement Rohee has also ramped up the rhetoric referencing and alleging ethnic discrimination by the APNU+AFC government and blaming the administration for flooding in Region 5, stating, “Further, it is another manifestation of the racial and political discriminatory practices of the APNU+AFC coalition administration to treat communities supportive of the PPP in this manner stating; ‘they didn’t vote for us so why bother with them, let them suffer.’” Needless to say, his quoted reference was unsubstantiated.
The PPP/C strategy for restricting the coalition to one term or part thereof seems to have as its focus the re-energizing of its ethnic base, bringing about a return to the fold and greater voter turnout at the polls, and the application of unrelenting pressure on and criticism of the APNU+AFC government to find or create chinks in its armour that can result in an abbreviated term and early elections.
That having been said, it should also be recognised that the opposition has fully participated in the process of governing within the context of parliament, while even in relation to its actions outside the legislature there is a caveat where dialogue with the current administration is concerned. In the first instance it is for the government to engage with the opposition, and not the other way around, and this has not happened.
There has been much talk about the need to do away with a political system that says to the victor belong the spoils, because of the two large ethnic voting blocs, since in a zero sum game if I win that means you lose.
There is an absolute need for a more reasoned approach to opposition politics and government politics as well, but this requires strong leadership and an even stronger desire to build a better Guyana for all Guyana, and particularly for future generations of our children’s children.
There is a great opportunity presented to the parties that are in parliament, and the onus is, therefore, on these parties to chart a course of inclusiveness in building a future in which all Guyanese can feel that they have an equal stake in the national pie.
The PPP/C has already charted a course of reversing its fortunes in the next national poll. They have clearly outlined that re-election is their main motive going forward. After the 2016 LGE, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo was quoted as saying: “Moving forward, we will resume the task of preparing for the national elections, whenever they are held, by strengthening the party, consolidating and broadening our support base…”
The APNU+AFC in government does not appear to have charted its own clear strategy in reply. Maybe it is just to be seen as a good and clean government, but it has already stumbled somewhat in this regard. Indeed it maybe should be expected – unaccustomed to governing for over two decades – that it could stumble often, even as the Cheddi Jagan government was seen to stumble after October 5, 1992.
Nevertheless, the onus is on the government first and then the opposition to chart a new course in the history of Guyana and bring a swift end to the zero sum game that is eating away at the national fabric.
