Dear Editor,
I particularly liked aspects of the messages from the United States and Britain for our ‘Independence Day’. The US message stated, ‘The United States stands with the people of Guyana, who want their voices heard’, with reference to the current elections’ situation. The British statement indicated, ‘Whomever takes charge will have to rule for the benefit of every Guyanese citizen, undertaking whatever constitutional reform is necessary to ensure that happens”.
It is important that the international community continues to build on the point that ‘Whomever takes charge will have to rule for the benefit of every Guyanese citizen’. This points to a ‘real fear‘ for the constituencies of both major political parties, as well as it addresses an issue in our society on inequality.
Our diversity has been one of our greatest strengths as well as a major weakness; and has impacted negatively on the development and progress of Guyana. Whomever gets into government must resolve to realise the ‘Guyanese Dream’ of a more socially and economically inclusive society which is in line with our motto: One People, One Nation, One Destiny!
The international community has a critical role to play in reducing inequalities and assisting Guyana and Guyanese to develop a more equitable society. Our governments have been avoiding critical areas of constitutional reform that will accelerate progress in this regard. For example, the facilitating of the coalescing of political parties after the elections, reducing the powers of the Executive President and possibly, returning to the First-Past-the-Post system, instead of the Proportional Representation system. These three areas of constitutional reform alone, can make a huge difference towards achieving a more equitable society.
After the declaration for the March 2, 2020 elections is made, as a nation, we need to undergo a healing and repair process; a lot of damage has been done between March 2nd and to-date – at the individual, institutional and societal levels.
Yours faithfully,
Audreyanna Thomas
