Lutchman says power sharing key for Guyana to see benefits from oil wealth

Harold Lutchman

With Guyana set to receive unprecedented revenues as a result of the start of oil production, constitutional attorney Professor Harold Lutchman says it is imperative that citizens push for power sharing or lose out to foreign companies.

“Once you have a situation where you have ‘I am APNU,’ ‘I am AFC, I am PPP… and I won’t listen to your ideas,’ who will get the benefit? A house divided against itself will fall,” Lutchman, who served during the life of the last Parliament as the APNU+AFC’s Representative of the List, told Sunday Stabroek in an interview last week as he highlighted the need for the political parties to work together. 

At the same time, Lutchman is also cautioning citizens against overreliance on political leadership for decision-making, in which he thinks there is need for greater civic participation.  “The society is one which gives politicians so much power and control and once you have politicians in control, they will always want to retain that control… and that we must look at,” Lutchman, who also served on the Steering Committee for Constitutional Reform (SCCR), said.