Dear Editor,
The refusal of the APNU+AFC coalition regime in Guyana to accept the no-confidence motion and go to the courts instead of going to the polls as enshrined in the constitution is not an exercise based on the battle of minds or ethics. It is rather a desperate attempt to survive a sudden political blow from the PPP opposition to remain in office. The regime is in shock as evidenced by the continuous grasping of any possibility to discredit and defeat the successful no-confidence motion with the ultimate aim to push back the constitutionally due election in late March 2019. The currency of confidence within the APNU+AFC coalition regime has hit rock bottom. I have always asked if this regime has any psychiatrists or psychologists. They are needed now more than ever before Guyana metastasizes into a full-blown crisis.
Why the APNU+AFC coalition regime wants another year in office rather than going to the polls within three months is as bizarre and eccentric as its constant and baseless challenge to the no-confidence motion. Among them are that the motion needed 34 votes to pass instead of the 33 it received on December 21, 2018, and that the AFC Parliamentarian Charrandass Persaud who voted yes for the motion cast an invalid vote because he holds Canadian citizenship, a status that is incongruous with the constitution of Guyana. While these matters are currently being examined in court and a decision is forthcoming, one is inclined to ask what difference would one year make in going to the polls unless the regime has some sinister plans in terms of buying time. What has become even more perplexing is that the regime has always put out this image of being morally loftier than any political party in Guyana. But when put to the test it has floundered from one crisis to another revealing a lack of sufficient mental and moral aptitude.
There is no sensible blossoming of reason in challenging a proven and passed no-confidence motion unless there is a fanatical movement promoting philosophical constitutional dogma to achieve parochial and partisan interests. Such fanaticism is self-serving, shallow and divisive. It is a dangerous game that would intensify rather than soften race relations in already deeply divided multi-cultural Guyana. There is no reason to gather evidence to argue as to what actually occurred. The motion was passed and that reality has become a common conversation across the mud land and further afield. The urgency now is for those lawyers and politicians who are denying the no-confidence motion to move beyond narcissistic and immature behaviour and accept the rules of evidence. To be intentionally oblivious to the latter point will lessen their credibility and more seriously forces one to question their capacity to practice law and govern. May I underscore that “proper and fit” training in any academic discipline is a prerequisite for the development of rationality and creative spirit.
Morality and ethics aside, the more the APNU+AFC regime gravitates to any “opportunity” to defeat the no-confidence motion the more it subscribes to the twin precepts of naked lust for power and the unrewarding gyrations of political barbarism. V.S Naipaul called this behaviour jungle politics to which I add even the most qualified psychologist would have a difficult time achieving any level of success in reformation. Stoicism runs deep in this regime. Undoubtedly, this regime has reached a state of stasis coupled with the perception that it will be sitting in the oppositional side of the house early 2019 or 2020.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Lomarsh Roopnarine
