Dear Editor,
The US’s proposed sponsorship of “Electoral Reforms” via the International Republican Institute for Guyana is good help for setting-up a robust electoral system. However, what I don’t agree with, is putting such a significant and sensitive undertaking fully into the hands of politicians (enough lessons learnt as evident by numerous court cases).
We were given the 1966 Westminster Constitution by the British for our independence, maybe as a token of higher academic brilliance as former colonial masters. Then, we were adorned with the gifted – illustrious and notorious LFS Burnham’s 1980 Constitution. And, in both cases, the Guyanese people never had a direct role in drafting and crafting these two documents. Further, much is known about the modus operandi for installing the 1980 Constitution via a fraudulent 1978 referendum, yet the will to scrap this constitution appears to dim as the politicians of the day are all out in high spirits to keep this document; maybe, to preserve the demigods status it confers upon them amongst other citizens of Guyana.
My point is: any reforms on the electoral process must be done with full participation of the Guyanese people to ensure that such reforms are in keeping with the covenants for a well-established Representation Of The People Act (Chapter 1:03) and not just a handful of politicians setting the stage as usual.
Likewise, a referendum is needed on the fate of the Burnham 1980 Constitution.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Ramrattan
