Dear Editor,
The spectre of delaying tactics reminiscent of the Cunctator is haunting Guyana.
Moreover, a well-orchestrated strategy of avoidance appears to be in concubinage with the spectre.
Avoidance of any meeting at this time between government and parliamentary opposition to ‘sus out’ the way forward to avoid a Constitutional crisis is not on the national agenda.
The bottomline of the Brigadier’s pincer approach is the objective of attrition. The aim is to stymie the constitutional process and to do whatever it takes to wear down and frustrate his political adversaries.
The ransacking of Constitutional custom introduced by Tiberius in Roman politics has surfaced in the Guyanese body politic.
The strategy on this occasion is two-fold: First, to instigate a delay in the setting of a date for elections and second, to extend the life of government as was the case in 1990 under former President, Desmond Hoyte.
Twenty-nine years later, we live in a not so different situation. It looks as though history is about to repeat itself, this time as a comedy.
The political actors strutting the corridors of power are different, but of the same ilk. And the handwriting is the same on a wall that closely resembles that which suffered a similar fate like the Berlin Wall.
Guyana is not Venezuela, where the political opposition in its quest for political power has gained recognition of major world powers.
But the lesson to be learnt from Venezuela as well as our own past experience is that without the masses on the streets demonstrating by peaceful means, nothing is going to happen. The Government will not budge.
The ‘Help Stop Brexit’ campaigners in the UK and the ‘Yellow Vests’ protestors in France as well as the Catalonia Pro-Independence Move-ment in Spain have waged successful battles on their home ground. We must draw inspiration from those struggles and do our level best to translate them in the context of our own local conditions and national peculiarities.
Sections of the media are playing a salutary role in the struggle to restore constitutional democracy and for that they must be commended. But more is needed.
The struggle has been fought and won at the parliamentary and judicial levels. The time is now for all who favour upholding the constitution and free and fair elections to stand up and be counted.
The President, the CEO of GECOM as well as its Chairman and the most senior member on that body from the government side are all singing from the hymn sheet that Fabius Maximus, the Roman military commander and statesman is known to have sung from par excellence.
In the meantime, the choir boys in the AFC and WPA have wasted no time in latching on to the Brigadier’s call for conducting fresh House-to-House registration with all the attendant features.
So it is clear that the die is cast. Elections are possible but highly improbable in accordance with the No Confidence Motion.
Possible, if the international and donor community exert enough pressure as was done prior to 1992 to bring the APNU+ AFC to their senses by insisting that they end the shilly-shallying and get on with the dissolution of Parliament and announcing a date for elections.
Pressure must be exerted on those ‘that’s not possible’ Commissioners at GECOM to have them dismount their high horses and to pave the way for GECOM to deliver on its mandate for much anticipated free and fair elections in our country.
Elections may be highly improbable this year, unless all the political opposition forces and stakeholders in civil society join hands to demand with one voice, under one banner screaming: ‘WE DEMAND FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS NOW!
From all appearances, this popular call seems to resonate with all the political and social forces who stand for constitutional democracy and the rule of law in Guyana.
The call can serve as a good basis, and a rallying point for unity of action among all stakeholders on just one common and simple demand.
To shun this window of opportunity would, objectively, serve to accommodate the strategic interest of the coalition administration, and this must not be given a free pass.
There is no place for accommodation at this point in time. On the contrary, it is for the government to accommodate the wishes of all those who stand for the rule of law.
Throughout the length and breadth of Guyana, a common call among ordinary folk from all walks of life, from all religious, ethnic and cultural persuasions is for leaders to come together in a show of unity and solidarity to press the coalition administration to cease violating the Constitution and to uphold the ruling of the Chief Justice for elections to be held within the stipulated time frame.
It is absolutely clear to all that the APNU+AFC is in a state of desperation.
It unashamedly waves an SOS flag before the populace hoping to win support through acts of political subterfuge and social engineering to extend its life in government while at the same time, riding roughshod over the Constitution of Guyana and desecrating the altar of rule of law to which it hypocritically bowed and pretended to uphold.
The governing coalition must know that everything can be won or lost in a political confrontation in a country pregnant with a constitutional crisis.
Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee
