Dear Editor,
Reference Sherwood Lowe’s letter (‘For many Guyanese the motion of no confidence is not a matter of legalities only’) in yesterday’s Stabroek News which was thought-provoking. Thanks to him first for a willingness to engage. It is only by continuing the exchange of views that Guyanese will come to understand each other’s positions. To offer a slightly different vantage point (which I have stated in these columns repeatedly): APNU+AFC won by one seat, the slenderest of margins They lost the vote of No Confidence by one vote, which is all it took to bring the government down. The possibility of the APNU+AFC government falling was in prospect from the moment it started its term of office. Anyone who has observed the precarious existence of coalition governments that routinely scrape to victory in Europe (and subsequently fall) would have realised this. To the dismay of many local observers, the coalition governed as though they had no need to compromise or to consult or try to include other groups or build consensus. But then this is the standard procedure in Guyana. Our politicians all have a “winner-takes-all” mentality. The coalition is not the first to be guilty of this attitude. It is outdated. Demographics suggest strongly that we all need to wake up. Coalition governments with slender majorities are likely to be the norm rather than the exception in Guyana’s future. No party and no administration is immune from the fate that has befallen this one.
Yours faithfully,
Isabelle de Caires
